I’m curious, Reader, how long would you say you’ve had that dream?

Do you remember the moment when you first thought, “I’d really love to do something like this”?

Some women tell me they’ve had a dream for a few years, but the majority say it’s been a decade or more.

What’s holding them back?

Tell me if any of this resonates with you:

"…it feels scary and stressful to not know where it’s going to lead."

"…overthinking—I've been in a state of just thinking and not doing."

"…stumbling over good ideas, but I don’t want to make the wrong move."

"…if people saw the real me they would know I’m a fraud."

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If we had all day, I bet we could come up with a few dozen additional barriers that keep women from starting on a dream. And honestly, it’s what I’ve focused a lot of my content on over the last almost ten years of hosting the Devoted Dreamers Podcast.

But I’m realizing something:

We are not motivated to change just because we can see and name our roadblocks.

It’s not as simple as driving through your neighborhood and seeing a long, spindly branch across the lane. You could put your car in Park, get out, and move the branch to the curb.

No, it’s more like half of a tree has fallen into the road. You could sit there and stare at it wondering what to do, or you could turn around and go the other way.

This is the shift I’m grabbing onto right now:

Finding an alternate route.

If focusing on what’s difficult hasn’t produced results thus far, maybe it’s time we start looking at it from a different vantage point.

What if we put our attention on what’s possible with God?

What if we looked at everything He’s already done and believed all the more in what He could do with the dream in the season that lies ahead?

For much of my adult life, I have defaulted to the glass-half-empty perspective. Honestly, it hasn’t done me any favors.

Looking back, I think I’ve chosen this outlook on life in an attempt to protect myself. Like: “If I don’t get my hopes up, I won’t be as disappointed when I don’t get [the job, the guy, the raise, etc.]”

But now that I’m in my 50s, God is changing my perspective: I don’t want to default to glass-half-empty anymore.

God is with me; I believe it. And I remind myself of this truth daily. And if God is with me, who can be against me? (See Romans 8:31)

There is so much hope in God and His Word. In Romans 8 alone you’ll find verse after verse of reminders about who we are to the Father based on what Christ has done for us.

Who am I to miss out on the fact that the glass isn’t half empty but has always been overflowing with goodness, mercy and grace?!

It’s truth like this that reminds me to stop staring down at the felled tree in the middle of the road and, instead, find another way to go forward.

Which brings me back to the new content I’m working on just for women like you, Reader.

If you are a midlife Christian woman who wants to use your time, gifts and talents to elevate God’s Kingdom, here’s a little secret you need to know:

Surrounding yourself with a supportive community of dreamers is the most effective way to make progress on a dream.

When I say “supportive community” I don’t just mean your small group from church. Or the ladies in your Bible study. I don’t mean the team you volunteer with every week or your college friends (love ’em for sure, but those are not the women I’m talking about).

What I mean by “supportive community” is a group of women who are walking a similar path, women who have that spark of ambition and are at the same time exhilarated by it and afraid of it (but still willing to walk forward anyway).

They are women who see you as you are and believe in you before you believe in yourself.

There are three non-negotiables for building the kind of community around you that will nurture your dream to life (trees felled in the road or not!)

And I made a little diagram to help us visualize it:

BELONGING: You are seen and known and you see others like you moving forward with their dreams.

IGNITION: Where vision finds its fuel and moves from idea to action.

MULTIPLICATION: Shared wisdom expands Kingdom impact for all.

All three together yield faithful momentum for the dream that's been waiting years for you to be ready. And the bonus? You grow leaps and bounds when you start walking this out.
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As you consider this shift in perspective, I’m curious to know which of these three non-negotiables you already have (or have had in the past), and which one feels the most elusive or hard to come by.

Would you do one small thing for me today, before you move on to the next thing?

Either hit "reply" and tell me which of these three you’re missing most
or
​Click the one below that feels hardest to come by right now.

👉 Belonging​

👉 Ignition​

👉 Multiplication​

Thanks for taking a moment to pay attention to this and to join me in the conversation.

As always, I am with you in the dream,

~ Merritt

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