Transcript
Speaker: We were designed to hunger for the deep things of God, to thrive on faith and wonder, to seek out divine wisdom that defies human logic.
Speaker: We were designed to unlock the mysteries of God.
Speaker: This is Breathing Underwater.
Speaker: Y'all, it is about to get hot up in Northern California, and I'm talking 107 degrees in the next couple days.
Speaker: I am not a fan of this kind of weather and trust me, I have tried to pray it away and alas, it remains.
Speaker: So instead of complaining or gearing up for something hard, I am choosing to rejoice in the fact that we are entering a new season.
Speaker: It is summertime, y'all, and there is nothing I can do about it.
Speaker: There is nothing we can do about it.
Speaker: Even if you have not yet seen the weather change where you live, the season is changing.
Speaker: And we are going to call this new season on the podcast, the summer season, the Summer Refresh, which starts today.
Speaker: So that is the name of this episode.
Speaker: And I'll tell you a couple reasons why we're calling it the Summer Refresh.
Speaker: First, and I would say most importantly,
Speaker: I believe that God has given our word about this summer being one of refreshing.
Speaker: One where his spirit is refreshing us emotionally, spiritually, and I believe even physically, regardless of what is going on around us.
Speaker: And summer has been actually a very challenging time for me through the years.
Speaker: And I believe there is some restitution and some returning that is happening today.
Speaker: And along with the refresh word, I have sensed this kind of back to the basics, this kind of simplicity, return to simplicity, which is so refreshing, isn't it?
Speaker: When things are uncomplicated and we just return to what is true and simple and pure.
Speaker: And when we're talking about walking with God,
Speaker: That really is just returning to the gospel, returning to our first love, returning to him as the source, our greatest connection point, returning to the truth that we don't have to strive or try, that he has already accomplished the victory in every area that we need it.
Speaker: that the power of the blood that was shed on the cross is enough that we don't need to add anything to it.
Speaker: And we can rest in the finished work, regardless of what we're seeing and regardless of what's happening around us.
Speaker: So I do feel there is an invitation into this refreshing summer.
Speaker: And I'm extending that to you.
Speaker: Now, the second reason we're calling this the Summer Refresh is because I believe in this new season spiritually as well as physically, that this is a great moment to kind of reset, reassess, recommit, if you will, ourselves to this practice of God's presence and His voice through our dream life.
Speaker: Maybe this is your first time listening to the podcast and you're starting at a really great point because we are going to go back to the basics, some of the basics today.
Speaker: And even if it's not your first time and you've been journeying a long time, this is a great moment to step in to the refresh.
Speaker: I'm going to be talking through three different ways that we can just really simply reset ourselves, reset our spirits and our minds and our intention toward a new summer season with our dream life and stewarding our relationship with God through our dreams.
Speaker: as well as this series through the summer is going to be a lot of refreshing of the basics.
Speaker: We're going to do some re-airs of episodes from the first season, some of the fan favorites, some of my favorites, which is also really foundational and going back to the basics.
Speaker: And let me just tell you, I have re-listened to some of these many times and I still get something out of them each time.
Speaker: I'd love to do is I'm going to make this short and sweet.
Speaker: We're going to go through three ways that you can intentionally partner with a summer reset or refresh over your dream life.
Speaker: Okay, number one, I would say, and you've heard me say it before, that the very most important thing you can do to even start paying attention to your dreams or listening for God's voice is you gotta write the dream down.
Speaker: You gotta write the dream down.
Speaker: Record it somewhere.
Speaker: You can write it on paper.
Speaker: You can type it on your phone.
Speaker: You can do a painting rendition if you would like.
Speaker: That's great.
Speaker: However, it works for you.
Speaker: You can make a voice note, which I love to do, but you need to get that dream written down.
Speaker: And that seems really like, duh, Margo, but how many of you don't even have a dream journal?
Speaker: You've been listening to this podcast.
Speaker: Anyone have a dream journal?
Speaker: Yeah, that is step one.
Speaker: Get a dream journal.
Speaker: Maybe that means just making a folder on your phone.
Speaker: Maybe that means getting a new journal, which would always be my choice because I love new paper products.
Speaker: Oh, my stars.
Speaker: Anybody with me on that?
Speaker: It's like I can feel you saying yes, some of you paper nerds.
Speaker: Just a side note, I sniff books compulsively.
Speaker: I didn't know I
Speaker: I did it compulsively until people started to tell me that I did.
Speaker: Not just journals, but like Bibles, books in a bookstore.
Speaker: I also like to smell leather goods and clothing and money.
Speaker: But anyway, I digress.
Speaker: So I think a new journal or even just starting a new folder in your phone is a good way to say, I am starting fresh.
Speaker: I am keeping this near fresh.
Speaker: my bed because this is a declaration of faith that I am ready to write down and record what I dreamed tonight.
Speaker: Now, if you already have a journal and you're going strong in it, maybe start a new section.
Speaker: If you have already been going strong in your phone, make a new folder that just says summer in it, okay?
Speaker: Just do something where it's setting it apart so that you are saying, I am agreeing that we are coming into a new season.
Speaker: Okay, number two, this one's probably going to take a little bit of time, but you are able to find that time.
Speaker: I would say no less than a half hour, but give it as much time as it needs.
Speaker: Be intentional at looking back, whether it's thumbing through a physical journal that you have or scrolling back through your notes app or looking on your computer.
Speaker: And just look over the last six months or so of your dreams.
Speaker: If you're someone that dreams so many dreams each night that that just feels overwhelming, then go look back over the last three months.
Speaker: But just take stock of kind of the last quarter or if you can up until the new year of the dreams that you have written down, whether you have them interpreted or not.
Speaker: Just look at them.
Speaker: Reacquaint yourself with how God has been speaking to you.
Speaker: And then notice, are there any patterns in these dreams?
Speaker: That could be anything.
Speaker: That could be something like, oh, this person is showing up in a lot of my dreams.
Speaker: Or I had a lot of dreams in March, but I didn't have that many in February.
Speaker: Interesting.
Speaker: Or, oh my gosh, this place keeps showing up.
Speaker: Or I kept having dreams involving fear.
Speaker: Interesting.
Speaker: Just notice any patterns that might come up and write it down.
Speaker: Set that aside for some reflection with God, because this is a part of the intentionality of him speaking to you over this last quarter or since the new year.
Speaker: If you want to go further back, you're welcome to.
Speaker: But you don't need to make this overwhelming.
Speaker: It's just a moment to kind of intentionally say, I'm quote unquote, tying off that season of dreams so I can step into a new one.
Speaker: Now, this does not mean that those dreams are done or that they have been interpreted or they've come to pass.
Speaker: No, it's just kind of a mental, spiritual pause and declaration of a new time.
Speaker: It might also be helpful to flag or to make a new folder for dreams that have already been fulfilled or have come to pass just for the sake of organization, even though, let's be real, I have a folder like that and some of those dreams have come back around again and again.
Speaker: But still, it's helpful for me to know, okay, this one doesn't feel like it's just hanging there and I don't totally know what it means and nothing has come to pass yet.
Speaker: It's in a different category.
Speaker: So that might help just organize you internally as well.
Speaker: Okay, number three, the most important, I would say, because we know this is going to take some slowing down and some intentionality.
Speaker: Number three is making the time.
Speaker: Now, don't get overwhelmed.
Speaker: This doesn't have to mean two hours every day.
Speaker: But it does require us to be intentional to some degree now.
Speaker: And that's the beautiful thing about the pause going into a new season.
Speaker: Take a look at what your summer is going to look like, your days realistically, and ask Holy Spirit to help you find a rhythm for yourself to connect with him and his voice, specifically over your dreams.
Speaker: Dreams can be the first part of God's voice that falls away because it takes some searching out, right?
Speaker: And that can feel like, I don't have time for that.
Speaker: But you do.
Speaker: You can find it.
Speaker: And all of us can find excuses why and we can all feel like a victim to our circumstances.
Speaker: But in reality, there is grace for each day within that day.
Speaker: And each day there is space to hear from God and he is intentionally giving us dreams to speak to us and to communicate something to us.
Speaker: This means find something that works for you and you will never regret it.
Speaker: You know that.
Speaker: You know that.
Speaker: And I'm sure your heart is absolutely for this.
Speaker: But sometimes when we're not actually saying it or intentional with it, we'll just stay in the same fly by the seat of your pants non-rhythm.
Speaker: And then we won't have the same success that we really want to have.
Speaker: So that's really what this is about.
Speaker: And I'll tell you what, a part of this going back to the basics thing in the summer, I just really think has to do with
Speaker: seeking and finding God.
Speaker: I cannot get out of this scripture where Jesus says, everyone who asks receives.
Speaker: Everyone who seeks finds.
Speaker: And everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Speaker: This is crazy.
Speaker: This is Matthew 7, 8.
Speaker: Everyone who asks will receive.
Speaker: Every time you ask, you will receive.
Speaker: Every time you seek, you're going to find him.
Speaker: And as you keep knocking, the door is going to be opened.
Speaker: I can't get this song out of my head, that old Kerry Jobe.
Speaker: The more I seek you, the more I find you.
Speaker: The more I find you, the more I love you.
Speaker: I want to sit at your feet, drink from the cup in your hand.
Speaker: Oh, that one has been just playing through my spirit this last week.
Speaker: I think it's a part of that call into the simplicity of the summer.
Speaker: The more we seek him, the more we find him and just giving time to seek him.
Speaker: That's what dreams are all about.
Speaker: They're veiled so often, right?
Speaker: And we have to actually seek to find him.
Speaker: That's a part of the point.
Speaker: It's these drawing us into that relationship, into that deeper intimacy.
Speaker: So let's look at our schedules and see how we can make this a part of our normal rhythm.
Speaker: That doesn't have to be the same time every day.
Speaker: That does help just because then you have something that's pretty consistent.
Speaker: It doesn't have to be the same time every day.
Speaker: Don't make goals that are unrealistic for you.
Speaker: I do a lot of coaching and one of the questions we always ask is, what's your goal for this week or this month or whatever?
Speaker: And then once the person sets the goal, I ask them, okay, do you want to do that?
Speaker: Okay, can you do that?
Speaker: Okay, will you do that?
Speaker: And if I get a yes to all three of those, then that feels like the right goal.
Speaker: And it's not a condemnation thing.
Speaker: It's actually like, do you want to, do you really want to do that?
Speaker: Because if you're like, no, I don't, then don't set that goal because you're probably just going to fail and then you're going to feel bad.
Speaker: Let's actually just set goals that you're actually going to do.
Speaker: Do you want to do that?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Can you do that?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Will you do that?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Probably not.
Speaker: Just being realistic.
Speaker: Okay, then let's find a goal in this that's actually going to really work for you.
Speaker: If you are not a morning person, do not make the goal that you're going to be up at five every morning, taking a half an hour.
Speaker: Unless you feel God is asking you to do that and he's going to empower you, then all for it.
Speaker: But if that's just not really how you flow anyway, don't set yourself up to fail.
Speaker: Okay?
Speaker: Think about your real normal rhythms.
Speaker: It gets lighter.
Speaker: It's easy to stay up later.
Speaker: Maybe evening's going to be a good time.
Speaker: Maybe it's on your lunch break.
Speaker: At work, maybe it's while you're putting the baby down, you're going to spend 20 minutes just listening even to the podcast.
Speaker: Maybe listening to this podcast is the time that you can give.
Speaker: And that's it.
Speaker: And you can spend that time asking God about your dreams and stewarding even your heart over the topic.
Speaker: That's great.
Speaker: Whatever is going to work for you.
Speaker: If you're a family and you're starting to implement the culture of dreaming in your family, and we just finished this series on kids and dreams, this might be a great time to just include your personal time in the time of the family.
Speaker: Maybe as everybody gets up in the morning and it's around the breakfast table, that's when you're talking about everyone's dreams and yours included.
Speaker: And that's a time to start stirring up the spirit around that in your family.
Speaker: If you have time to make extra time on your own, that's awesome.
Speaker: But maybe it's most realistic to just add it to time with family because kids are home and I get that.
Speaker: It's real.
Speaker: The summer is a really different flow.
Speaker: Some of you, it's going to calm down.
Speaker: Some of you, it's going to ramp up.
Speaker: So it's just up to you to find the time for this.
Speaker: Okay, I'm going to leave you with that.
Speaker: I'm going to charge you to really take this moment, even just this week, to go through these three steps.
Speaker: And ask the Holy Spirit to help you.
Speaker: And then as we go into the summer, you're going to be hearing some re-airs and some new little twists on things as well.
Speaker: I am always around and available if you want to send me an email or tell me how you're doing.
Speaker: We're going to be gearing up for a new season of the membership as well, which you'll be hearing a little bit about.
Speaker: But I encourage you to take this time, even this week, to recognize that we're coming in
Speaker: to a new season, even a new spiritual season, and to prepare yourself for the refreshing of God and to be refreshed in the basics of connection with him, but also in the basics of dreaming.
Speaker: That's all for now.
Speaker: Happy, happy dreaming.
