It’s been over two years since God gave me the vision for this website. I was lying in bed one morning planning my day when the Lord told me to stand up and raise my hands in the air and declare victory. As soon as I did, I saw a picture in my mind of my eldest daughter and 4 of my friends who had experienced victories in their lives, doing the same. In the vision, they were standing on the bayfront with broken handcuffs on their wrists celebrating what God had done. When I asked the Lord why only five would be in the picture, He reminded me that 5 was the number of grace.
A few weeks later, our little band of believers was shivering by the water waiting for the sun to rise. After taking off their coats and posing for a few pictures, one of them commented, “You know we love you, Jeannie!”. I smiled. Yes, they definitely loved me.
Once my son-in-law, who had been the photographer, e-mailed me the pictures I figured I would have a website up and running within a few weeks. I figured wrong. It’s not that I didn’t have help. My son-in-law actually set up a site for me off of a private server. There were just a lot of complications in other areas of my life, and I didn’t have peace about moving forward. During the next couple of years, I worked on my books, taught a Bible study, took care of family members, and travelled around the country a bit. I tried to move forward with the vision God had given me, part of which was making short inspiration videos to post on the site, but the doors slammed shut. That is when, God, once again, reminded me of the ark and the dove.
In Genesis, Noah sent out a dove to see if the land was ready to be inhabited. “But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself” (8:9NKJV).
Many years ago, God had used this scripture to speak to me about trusting His timing. When God gives us a dream we need to put it out there and release it. If nothing comes from it, we are to draw it back and keep it close to our hearts and rest in Him until some time passes. Then we are to release it again.
“And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore”(Genesis 10-12 KJV).
Noah released the dove three times before it did not come back. Sometimes we need to release our dreams more than once. If they come back to us unfulfilled it is because the land is not ready. God will prepare the land of our hearts and the land of our circumstances, as well as the hearts of others, to not only receive our dreams but to bring them to pass.
Last week, everything started coming together for this site. My spirit was stirred to write again, and God has positioned people to help me. It looks like it’s time for the dove to fly away and go and make a home in the land.
If you have a dream that you have released, only have it come back to you, rest in God’s presence and wait. God is preparing the land for you. Rest in His love and be assured that, in His time, He will bring to pass what He has placed in your heart.
May you be abundantly blessed!
Jeannie Boatright
Picture of Noah and ark saved from freechristianimages.org