Everyday Life | July 2010: Are You Living Your Dream?

By Christina Donahue-Williams

Hey everyone!! So it’s summertime! I hope you are all enjoying your time with friends and family! Time is definitely passing by so quickly! Our children will be back in school before we know it!!

I want to talk to you about what has been heavy on my heart lately. I want to talk about your dreams, goals and your destiny. Each one of us has our own destiny set by the Lord. We all have goals and dreams but sometimes they seem so far out of reach. Take a moment and think back to when you were younger, most of us all had dreams for ourselves, whether it was to be a teacher, rock star, etc! As I mentioned before, I used to sing to my brother all the time and my dream was to be a singer. I also wanted to be a writer because I found that I was able to express myself through my writing which was and still is very important to me. As time passed by, I knew I still wanted to sing, which I was, but I also wanted to be able to help people as well through my singing and writing. For most of us, when we are younger we have that ultimate dream inside of us that we strive to live out as we get older.

So with that said, have you given up on your dreams and your destiny? Have you settled for what you think is all that you can accomplish? I hope the answer to that question for all of you is no, but in reality I’m sure that some of us answered yes. Sometimes our dreams seem so far away and completely impossible. Whether it’s our finances or our everyday lives that make our dreams seem impossible, we usually find a reason as to why we can’t live out our dreams. I understand there are some dreams that are just completely and totally not possible, but you can take pieces of that dream and transform those pieces into a different version of your dream!

If you have dreams that you have not yet accomplished in your life, please don’t give up. For most of us, it takes quite a bit of time to accomplish our goals and live out our dreams. There are steps we have to take to reach our goals and dreams. We must always spend our time in prayer with the Lord asking for His guidance each step of the way. Don’t be surprised if at times, you are on your knees crying out to God and feeling like you just can’t do it. This is going to happen; we are going to fall; we are going to fail even before we start but that’s what it’s about and you can’t give up! We have to crawl before we can walk because during those times, we are learning. It’s all a process; a learning process. It’s also all part of continuing our walk with the Lord. HE will walk beside you the entire way, leading you down the path you need to follow so you can live your dreams.

Maybe your dream is to sing, teach or maybe your dream is to travel the world and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Whatever your dreams may be, they are not out of reach! You have to start somewhere, so start by writing down your dreams and goals. Write down the steps that you feel you need to start taking so you begin your journey. After you finish writing and you visually see your dreams on paper, pray over them daily. That is crucial! You can talk to God about your dreams and what you want to do. You can ask Him to help you stay focused with these steps. The Lord knows the desires of our hearts and He wants us to fulfill our dreams in life. Through all of this, you must trust in the Lord, believe in Him and believe in yourself. That doesn’t mean that you won’t stumble along the way because you will. When you stumble, call upon the Lord for strength because He is your source of strength and He will shower you with His grace, strength and love.

Don’t ever give up on yourself or your dreams! Your life is your life and don’t let anyone take that away from you! We teach our children this, but we don’t always take our own advice! So with all that said, please spend time in prayer and ask the Lord to guide your way! Don’t give up on your dreams or your destiny! You are special and God loves you!

“And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” –Isaiah 58:11

Many Blessings

~Christina~

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When I was a little girl, I had a pink and white bedroom set that had bedposts and I would use the posts as my microphone and sing for my brother; he was my first audience! I took piano lessons for years (thank you mother!) and totally enjoyed it. I look back now and it is amazing to see that even then, the Lord was preparing me. Growing up in a Christian home, I was blessed to have a mother who prayed for me every day. We were in church every time the doors were open and would sing our hearts out. I know that somebody did some praying for me and it was my mother; my prayer warrior.

I have a very handsome, talented, smart and totally amazing son, Cayden. He is nine years old and my little man! He is a merit student at school (he has been throughout his entire school days)! Cayden takes piano lessons weekly, along with voice lessons. He is my little angel from heaven! Cayden is totally cool and is following in my musical footsteps not to mention he has the biggest heart and is such a little caretaker! I have an awesome mother, who is my angel here on earth and I love her so very much! I have one brother, Daniel, who lives in South Dakota with his two little girls that I miss so much! God has continued to bless me throughout my days here on earth and what a journey!

I spent a few years singing with my parents at different churches and it was an awesome experience. I started to learn so much more about what it truly meant to sing for the Lord! After that, I took my own paths (some of which should have been less traveled), but my mother never stopped praying for me! I always knew the Lord had a purpose for me; that my calling was with Him, but I had to be patient.

I sang with another group that still included my parents for a few years and we had the opportunity to record and have our own cd projects. I am very grateful for that experience.

Since then God has given me the opportunity to move forward with my own music ministry along with my writing ministry. My son Cayden is also singing with me, along with singing on his own and playing the piano! I am Blessed beyond measure to have the opportunity to sing with my son and to have him be such an amazing piano player. I am very grateful to the Lord for giving me the gifts and talents that I have so I can share them with others and spread tHis Gospel through my music and writing!

Interesting facts about Christina (that’s me!)

Favorite Colors: Black, Pink, Red (yes…3…I couldn’t pick just 1!)

Favorite Foods: Lobster, Pasta, Shrimp, Chicken

Favorite Bible Verse (s): Luke 23:33 and 23:33-43 (The Seven Last Sayings of Christ)

Favorite song(s): Still Holdin’ On and Through The Fire by Jason Crabb IF That Isn’t Love by Elvis and I’ve Got Confidence by Elvis (this is a very old song about Job)!

Hobbies: Playing piano, singing, writing, helping others, antiques, learning cool facts with my son about music composers, reading and playing piano with my nine year old son! He is so amazing on the piano! I also love to watch my son cook and bake…he is such a little chef! My Cayden and I are total fashion gurus! Oh and did I mention that I totally love to shop?!! Ok…like none of you knew that!!