Today I was the guest reader for young scholars attending Covenant United Methodist Church’s Freedom School in Springfield, Ohio. I read the book Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed. The book celebrates the perseverance and imagination of the first African American woman astronaut, Mae Jemison, as a young girl. I love the book and the experience it provided while reading it to a room of young people. In fact, I realized about halfway through the reading, I was being blessed by the simple yet powerful arrangement of words in the book. A moment structured to bless someone else, in turn, was blessing me in ways I did not expect.

The blessing was sudden and sweet. The blessing was also amplified by the expression of my own voice. By reading the words aloud, I allowed the power of words to fall fresh on me as a recipient of God’s incredible grace that showed up right on time. The words of the book that produced such might were the reminder, “If you can dream it, if you believe it and work hard for it, anything is possible.”

Certainly, these words are appropriate for young people exploring the possibilities of who they want to be when they grow up. However, I’m learning that the encouragement to dream, believe, and work hard for the purpose God has implanted in us, no matter our age, is also appropriate. We’re not robots. We’re flesh and blood, wonderfully made in the image of God, designed to feel Him moving within us throughout our season changes. I was gracefully reminded today that God is ready to deliver what I once thought in my spiritual infancy was impossible. My dreaming, continuous belief that God is who He says He is, and my all-in work ethic to give Him glory in everything, was not practiced in vain. I’m now living in a new season where I know anything is possible. God is making it so, and He provided a safe space and an opportunity for me to profess the blessing for myself.

Have you recognized that you are experiencing a shift in your life? A change where things, as they are, no longer fit with the ‘good trouble’ God is instigating within you. A shift where being in the company of antagonists is offensive to the new thing God has revealed within you. A change where you are now willing to fully participate in the healing God is presenting before you.

I encourage you to embrace the gift of the new season God is gracing on your journey. He’s traveling to the guarded space within you to deliver the reminder, “If you can dream it, if you believe it and work hard for it, anything is possible.” Speak your blessing. Receive your blessing. God is making the impossible so.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;” – Numbers 6:24-25