Months ago I was watching a woman named Debbie Macomber being interviewed on The 700 Club Christian television program. Diagnosed as a child with “word blindness,” she shared how she struggled to learn in school.
“Debbie is a nice girl,” her third grade teacher told her mother, “but she’ll never do well in school.” And she didn’t. But, from the time she was a young child, she loved to tell stories and dreamed of becoming a writer. She kept that dream to herself fearing what others might say. She was ten years old by the time she learned to read.
The following year she learned to knit and was quite good at it. This boosted her self-confidence. Through knitting she also learned concentration, comprehension and math. In high school, she shared her dream of becoming a writer with her principal who replied, “think about something you can do.”
Her academic education ended once she finished high school. It wasn’t until after she married and had children that she learned the “word blindness” she had been diagnosed with as a child was actually dyslexia.
Debbie never gave up her dream of becoming a writer and believed that was God’s purpose for her life. She began to pursue her writing career crafting out romance novels. Rejection after rejection came from her submitted manuscripts, but she didn’t give up. Finally, one of her manuscripts was accepted.
Since then, Debbie has had more than 160 books published, been on the New York Times best seller list numerous times and has 170 million copies of her books in print. She’s had some of her books made into Hallmark tv movies and a Hallmark tv series. She currently concentrates on writing inspirational nonfiction but has also written cookbooks and children’s books.
Recognized for her achievement with numerous awards, Debbie’s dreams of becoming a writer were truly inspired by God. He put that dream in her heart, and she never gave up on it, despite what others said.
Throughout the bible there are stories of those who were given a dream by God that seemed impossible. The story of Joseph in Genesis is a prime example. In his dream, he saw sheaves of wheat (representing his ten older brothers) bowing down to him. When he shared his dream with his brothers, they became furious. They ended up kidnapping him and selling him into slavery. Years later, that dream became reality when through a series of events, he became second in power in all of Egypt. Because of a famine in the land, his brothers travelled to Egypt to buy wheat from Pharaoh’s 2nd in command (not recognizing it was their brother whom they hadn’t seen in years) and ended up bowing down to him. I highly recommend everyone read this incredible story of triumph over tragedy.
Ephesians 3:20 says: “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that is in us.”
What’s your dream?
Mary Therese Hutchinson 