I recently met with Katie to chat about dreaming with God. She's full of life and full of expectation as she finishes her degree and prepares to run into missions in September. Check this out for an opening statement on dreaming!

For me, life is all about walking with God. When we walk with Him closely He starts to put His dreams for our lives onto our hearts. When He’s done this, we have a responsibility to live it out and give our lives to see that come to reality for His glory. It’s a privilege to carry a dream and purpose from heaven, so the worst thing in the world would be to miss out on those.

What does it mean to dream with God?

I believe that dreams are created through knowing God closely. Having conversations with Him in intimacy and closeness. My dreams have been shaped by significant moments of encountering the Father and His heart. I believe that the dreams God gives us are about restoration for ourselves and others. We know His dreams will line up with His word and what we know of His heart, even if they seem crazier than we had initially imagined! Our life can pivot around an encounter and dreams come from being open to anything He wants to do.

God really can send us anywhere and revival will come; everyone is a missionary and walking with Him gives us these visions! When we let Him have full control of our lives and let our own agenda die, He will use us. Let’s cry out from our heart and echo Isaiah’s prayer: “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8).

What dreams has God given you?

God has put it on my heart to go to Portuguese-speaking nations to bring the hurting, broken, and lonely into family. When I think about the dream it’s like I see Jesus’s face and I realise that it’s what I’m made to do!

Have you seen your dream start to come true?

For the past 4 years God began to bring connections into my life to make a way for me to go to Brazil, and confirmed the word in many different ways. I was able to visit in summer 2016 and had the best time there! I plan to go to Brazil once I graduate - people tell me I’m out of the ordinary for diving straight in to my dreams and our culture tells us we need to have a solid CV before we can begin our dreams… I’ve found following my dreams has given me the CV I needed!

What’s it like for students to dream in our culture?

I think students have an incredible opportunity to dream. As we begin to step out of our home communities and cultures we can lay our lives down at the altar and ask God to give us direction and purpose.

If we don’t feel like we have a dream, we need to get on our face and ask God to dream for us and with us. Dreams are only possible and achievable with God so we have to depend on the miraculous! God’s heart can burn in us and it always looks bigger than our dreams! Dreaming starts, ends, and exists by walking with Him. You may be told you’re crazy, too intense, or that “it’s nice to be passionate but it might not last”, but keep your eyes on Him and let His words over your life define you! The reason people may misunderstand you is because it’s not normal to lay yourself down for Jesus. Let’s surround ourselves with people who encourage our dreams, just like Barnabas and Paul!

Start, end, and fill your life with walking with God. In this place you will find all the dreams you could ever imagine and beyond what you could imagine, and the preparation and guidance you need to walk it out. We’re made to walk with God and once we’re really doing this, we’re unstoppable to see His plans come to fruition in our lives!