Dreaming big

I follow several people on Twitter and Facebook who are adoption advocates or have their own adoption blogs that I like to occasionally read. This past weekend was the Together For Adoption conference in Austin, Texas. I kind of wish I would have known about it earlier and been able to attend. I think it would have been amazing to be a part of. I wasn't able to go but a lot of the people I follow were there so I was constantly being updated with news of the conference which was pretty cool.

One person I follow on Twitter is Missy from It's Almost Naptime. She updated constantly with all sorts of awesome info which I really enjoyed reading. Her blog entry from yesterday was something I felt was worth sharing. I sometimes worry that my whole entire blog could end up being re-posts from other people's blogs and websites but there is so much great information out there that I really want to share that I guess it doesn't really matter. Right? Forgive me if you've already read this. If not, read on. And be sure to watch her blog the rest of the week as she promises to share information daily from the T4A Conference.

Last night, after spending two days at the Together for Adoption Conference in Austin, I laid down with the feeling you have after a funeral. You know the physical, emotional, spiritual exhaustion that makes you want your bed more than anything? That feeling.

I slept. I slept well.

This morning when I woke up, I had an email from Joel Osteen. (He emails me often, thanks to my friend Jolie who thought it would be cute to put me on his list.)

And here's what Joel had to tell me:

Dear missy,

Victoria and I want to invite you to join us tonight for our LIVING YOUR DREAM webcast. You’ll be encouraged during this wonderful time together as we share life-changing stories about God’s goodness and what He wants to do in your life!

We want you to know that you can experience God’s best every single day. We serve a God of more than enough, a God who loves you with unconditional love. Today, you can be confident in God’s promises and start believing for your dreams!

Click here to share your dream with us!!

I'm thinking I should click there to tell Joel my dreams.

Something tells me my dreams would be a little different than the prosperity "gospel" he loves to sell. Something tells me that my idea of God's best and Joel's idea of God's best differ a little.

I dream that some of the 160,000,000 orphans in the world would 'experience God's best every single day.' I dream that more Christians would 'be confident in God's promises' that the 'God of more than enough' will provide the funds to adopt one of his children. I dream that the Church would notice the many verses in the bible about protecting the fatherless and be determined to share 'life-changing stories about God's goodness' to a toddler who scrounges for food on the street. I dream that the Church would make it her mission to share stories of 'God's unconditional love' with the foster child who has not one person alive who loves her. I dream that the Church would care more for orphans than Hollywood does. I dream that the Church would do more for orphans than the UN does.

I dream that the average soccer mom who loves Jesus was the spokesperson for orphan adoption, instead of Angelina Jolie.

It's going to take more than watching a webcast to see these dreams realized.

I'll be blogging about the conference all week. I've got lots to say. Most of it hurts. Still, I pray you'll read.

Then, let's live the dream.