Bieber Fever
Carolyn Hill is a wonderful friend, wife, mother, and most importantly, you see Jesus shine through her. She makes her home in Branson, MO with her husband and two children.
Seriously, why would a 35 year old wife and mother love teen sensation, Justin Bieber? Well, let me explain. Sometimes when God is trying to get through to me, He uses some unexpected people and things to bring me revelation. Do you ever get amazed at how God will bombard you with the same message over and over? It comes from many different sources and yet it’s the same message! It’s like, “Ok Lord, I am seeing that this is not a coincidence.”
So back to JB: here’s this 16 year old kid who honestly I hadn’t thought twice about, until I saw his movie, Never Say Never. If you don’t know who or what in the world I’m talking about, Justin Bieber is one of those phenomenons who has unexplained, raw, natural abilities to sing, dance, play drums, piano, guitar and all with no training or coaching. And by the age of 16 he has the charisma to sell out huge arenas like Madison Square Garden in 22 minutes!
After seeing the movie, I couldn’t help but be a fan! I mean, he’s so young and so obviously gifted by God. When he was 10 or so, his Mom put some of his performances on youtube and he became one of the most popular hits on the internet. But what struck me was that despite hundreds of thousands of cyber fans, the “experts”in the music industry turned him down, over and over. However, he was not deterred ( remember he’s like 12 at this point) and he just keeps trying. Long story short, Usher (a famous pop singer) saw him perform and said, “This is a no brainer!” Usher began to produce him, and the rest, so they say, is pop culture history.
So what did God show me through Justin Bieber? Here it is: If God puts a dream in your heart and gifts to use for His glory, someone will probably tell you, “No way.” Someone else may even tear you down with negative comments and try to intimidate you. There are going to be a lot of obstacles to overcome. But the truth is– God will make a way and He wants you to dream!
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3
We’ve all probably heard this message before, so why don’t we think it applies to us? Many of us don’t dream because we’re afraid. Afraid to fail and afraid to succeed.
With Justin Bieber’s story fresh on my mind, I went to church the next day. At the last minute I decided to attend a special “Spiritual Parenting
Workshop.” Guess what we talked about? Yep, dreaming! We started analyzing our life’s journey, and looking back to see how God has truly directed our paths through positive and negative turns. Hmmm, God planted the seed and now He was having me really apply it to my own life.
Well guess what? That night my husband and I were sitting around a table with 3 other couples at church and guess what the discussion was all about? Dreaming! Wow, God, you really want me to think about my dreams!
Then the next morning I received a message from a friend of mine who has stage 4 cancer, and it was a beautiful plea to her friends and family asking them to live their life and to dream big. From her perspective life is precious and short. Everyone is so busy just trying to make it through the day to fulfill their daily duties; it leaves very little time to dream and to dare to believe that God wants to do amazing things through us.
Ephesians 3:20 says Now to Him Who by the power that is at work within us, is able to do superabundantly far over and above all that we dare ask or think, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams.
So my friends, I dare you to dream. Don’t be afraid, God will show you the way. I challenge you to take some time and write down your dreams. You may think that its too late or just hopeless, but like Justin Bieber says, “Never Say Never!”
What would you do for God if you knew you could not fail?