Dreams

I was flipping through channels today and stopped on a local church post reordered service stream. I listened for a few minutes of what the pastor was talking about. I must have missed the majority of the message, but what I did hear of it resonated with my life. The pastor was like me in his career. He had worked with computers and was laid off. He wanted a change in his life -his dream was to be a teacher and for some reason he placed that dream on the back burner. Now he is pursuing a teaching position. His message was don't give up on your dreams.

How many of us have dreams that we want to see manifested in our lives? How many of us have put dreams aside due to events in our lives? Maybe you had to drop out of college to take care of a family or a baby. Maybe you are afraid to pursue your dream because you have always been told you are not smart enough. What ever the reason, it is never too late to start working toward your dream.

My story starts while I was still in High School. I was a senior about to graduate and had no clue what I was going to do after school was out. See, I wasn't the smartest kid in school. I didn't make straight A's - I was more of a C and B kind of kid. I struggled at times. There were many nights where I cried because I couldn't understand my homework. It didn't help that my father called me "stupid" and "dumb" either.

Graduation came and went and I still hadn't done any research of where or what I wanted to do. Somehow, and I can't remember why, I chose to go Computer Tech. I was good at computers and figured I would excel through that program and would find a job after graduating.

It was a 15 month program and I took me longer than 15 months because I failed 2 classes. I failed a Visual Basic programming class and an Intermediate Accounting class and ended up graduating in December instead of May.

After graduating I realized that I wanted to do more. Maybe my confidence was up or something, but all I know is that I wanted to be back in school, so I applied to Fairmont State to go into a completely different field in which I had originally planned. A field in teaching.

I chose to go into education. I wanted to be a teacher like my mother...a PE/Health Teacher. Everything started off well, I was taking education classes, electives, and general requirement classes...all seemed well. Then I learned that I would need to take and pass the Praxis exam before I could even get into the teaching program. It freaked me out. I am terrible at taking tests. Yes, this was a three part test. A reading test, a math test, and a writing test. After learning about the Praxis I did what any freaked out college student would do, I changed my major to Information systems...

Fast forward a few years. I graduated with a BS degree in Information Systems and started a job in my field.

Fast forward to last year. I worked in government contracting. Once the contract you're working on ends you may or may not have a position. I ended up losing my position. During my time off I decided to go back to school and finish my degree in Education. I applied back to college and got accepted for the Winter/Spring semester. It was in May and I started studying for the Praxis. I bought a couple of books and watched countless Youtube help videos. A couple of months later I decided to take the exam. It was a partial success. I passed the reading and writing portion but failed the math portion.  January rolls around and I start classes.....2 weeks go by and I get hired by a contract company to work on a Bio-metrics project. I had to accept the job offer (being on unemployment, I kind of had to).

Fast forward to the present. That contract is over and I am yet again, without work. The good thing is that I have been working as substitute teacher since the ending of the contract...

To bring this long entry to a close, I want to relate this to what I stated above about the Pastor I watched on TV today. My dream was to be a teacher. I opted out on that dream because I let fear control my destiny. Now I am studying to retake the math portion of the Praxis. Then I'm going to study for the Praxis II for the content area I want to teach. I'm going to get my teaching certification!

Maybe you're like me, maybe you gave up on your dream. I am here to say that "You can do it!" Do not like fear keep you captive! Chase your dream and rekindle that spark that you gave up on. Blow wind on those cole's to start a flame. Let that flame burn within you. Don't give up. If you need encouragement, I'll give you all the encouragement in the world. You've got this -you can do it! It's something I tell myself ever day. I have a strong desire to do what I'm doing right now and I know struggles may come, but they wont bring me down. No, I am doing this. I will not give up! So be encouraged and don't give up on your dream. It's never too late to live your dream!

For the future wife:
Honey, be encouraged today. You're a very smart woman. Work toward those dreams you have and never give up. If I saw you in the physical right now I'd be telling you. It may be hard, you may have to lay some things down, it may take longer than normal, but don't give up. I want you to be happy. I want to see the joy accomplishing your dream brings you! Remember, seek God's face in all you do. Follow Him and He will guide you. You may not know what path to take to reach your dream, but trust me, listen to that still voice and you'll never be led astray.