Danniebelle shares a heartfelt glimpse into holding onto a lifelong dream

It’s a dream she’s carried since she was a little girl.

Not a vague idea, but a clear picture – a family, built on love, partnership, and the kind of care she watched her own parents model so beautifully. It’s still there, still strong, unchanged in its essence.

Only now, it sits alongside another reality… It hasn’t happened yet.

“My biggest dream from when I was a little kid was that I would be a mum… and it still is.”

There’s something disorienting about dreams without timelines. We get used to milestones in life – school, work, relationships – often mapped out in neat succession. But some of the deepest desires don’t come with a calendar date. They unfold in their own time, or sometimes, feel like they’re taking longer than expected.

Uncertainty can feel like a mystery

For Danniebelle, that uncertainty can feel like a mystery she’s learning to live with.

Not solve. Not rush. Just live with.

“I don’t know the date, I don’t know the time… it all feels like a bit of a mystery.”

There are moments, she admits, where the questions get loud. Nights where she turns it over in her mind, “Why hasn’t this happened for me?” Moments sparked by something as simple as a film or a fleeting love story on screen, highlighting the absence of something she longs for deeply.

And yet, alongside the questioning sits a quiet resolve.

A choice not to get lost in the “what ifs”.

Keep trusting… even while we wait

Instead, she’s learning to place that dream gently into God’s hands; to trust that a desire so deeply rooted isn’t there by accident, or as some kind of cruel tease.

It’s a trust that isn’t always easy.

There are times when God feels silent on the subject. Times when the gap between hope and reality feels wide. Times when comparison sneaks in – when it’s tempting to look at others and think the grass might be greener somewhere else.

But almost as quickly as those thoughts come, they’re challenged.

Because with age has come perspective. A growing awareness that comparison rarely brings peace, and that even the paths that look ideal from the outside can hold their own complexity and pain.

Life, after all, rarely turns out exactly as imagined.

“I’ll immediately go, ‘oh yeah, the grass is greener over there’ but then straight away go, ‘no, I can’t think like that.’”

Danniebelle and Brendan both acknowledged that reality: the relationships they’ve seen break down, the families reshaped by loss or hardship, the unpredictability of life. It’s enough to make anyone pause and wonder what the future might hold.

Even, at times, to question the dream itself.

There are moments when Danniebelle has looked at the state of the world – the chaos, the uncertainty – and quietly wondered what it would mean to bring children into it. It’s not a loss of hope, but a reflection of how deeply she cares about the kind of world future generations will inherit.

And yet, through all of it, one anchor remains. A verse she returns to again and again: “For I know the plans I have for you…” (Jeremiah 29:11).

It’s not a quick fix or a neat answer. But it is a reminder that even when she can’t see the full picture, she’s not forgotten. That her life isn’t defined by what hasn’t happened yet, but by what’s already been given.

And that list, she realises, is full.

Family. Friends. Meaningful work. A community of listeners. A life rich with connection and purpose.

It doesn’t replace the dream but reframes it.

Rather than becoming consumed by what she doesn’t have, she’s choosing to invest in what she does. To pour her love, energy and attention into the people and opportunities already in front of her.

And to trust that the rest will come in the right time. Or in the right way. Or in a way that may look different from what she imagined.

“I don’t want to be distracted by what I don’t have when I have everything right now.”

This was a reminder that so many people can relate to as they are walking similar paths, carrying similar hopes, often quietly.

Dreams that feel delayed.

Questions without answers.

A tension between trust and longing.

And in sharing her story, Danniebelle gave language to that space, not as something to fix, but something to gently hold.

Because sometimes, the bravest thing we can do is keep trusting… even while we wait.

Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.

Feature image: Supplied

Have you ever had a dream that God has given you that you have given up on?

It feels like you have been waiting so long that it is dead and buried. But what if it isn’t dead? What if the dream is lying dormant?

Every March in the area we live in, beautiful pink Easter Lilies, also known as Belladonna Lilies, pop up.  They always catch my eye. They bloom for a season, then are gone until the next year. Just because I can’t see their beautiful flowers doesn’t mean they are gone forever. They are just dormant. 

Dormant Season

Many plants have a dormant season, including Easter Lilies. The season’s flower dies off, but the bulb remains. In the bulb is everything that the plant needs to grow again, when conditions are right. 

A dormant season isn’t a waste. The bulb is deep in the earth, absorbing the nutrients that it needs. It’s removing waste from the season that’s been and preparing to grow again. Dormancy protects the plant from extreme temperatures and allows root development in preparation for the coming season. 

Our dreams are often like that. I have wanted to write for as long as I can remember. When I was in my teenage years, I used to write children’s books in my head, plan stories, and write poetry as a creative outlet. I wanted to write more publicly, but I never felt like it was the right time. As time went by, I would write journals, blogs, and stories. It was a way of processing, but I never published anything publicly until the last few years. 

When I think about why I didn’t do it before now, it feels like a season of dormancy. God was preparing me. Many things needed some work for it to be the right time, myself included. Ten years ago, I would have wilted at the first sign of criticism. I was too insecure to give my work to others for feedback, so I could improve. My self-image was so poor that I thought no one would care about anything I had to say. I was not ready to write then, and it would have crushed something so precious in my life before it even began. A season of dormancy has allowed for sustainability. 

Strengthen Our Roots

Sometimes it feels so long since we had the promise from God or felt hope that the dream in our heart could be achievable, that we give up on it. We think it’s dead and buried, and there is no hope for us. Trust that there is a right time for you, and the waiting is enabling you to prepare. In dormancy, we can strengthen our roots, learn to trust God deeply, and work on ourselves. If you are waiting to start working towards a dream, consider that it may not be dead; it’s just dormant. 

Article supplied with thanks to Lorrene McClymont.

About the Author: Lorrene McClymont is a writer and photographer from Hope Images. On her blog ‘Moments to Rest’, she shares about rest, faith, and family.

Feature image: Canva

Have you ever had dreams and plans for life, started down the path to achieving them, and after a while you looked around and wondered, “How did I get here”?

Where you are standing doesn’t seem to relate to the dreams and plans you started out trying to achieve. Sometimes, that can be exciting; we can be further along than expected. Other times, it can be incredibly frustrating, with a side order of unmet expectations and unfulfilled dreams.

Detours Lead to Questions

I got married for the first time at 19. My dreams for that marriage were pretty standard; I think: grow old together, have lots of children, buy a house, sell it after a few years, travel some and then have some Grand kids running around. Things did not go the way I expected. I have a beautiful daughter from that marriage, but when it ended, I was left with a lot of questions. There were so many questions about myself, God, and my future as a single mum. I wondered how on earth this had happened. My reality was so far from my plan.

I have been married to my second husband for close to sixteen years now. Again, I had many dreams and plans for this marriage, and they also involved many children, houses, and travel. My husband has a son, we blended our family, but we weren’t able to have any more children. We don’t own a house any more, and we haven’t done a lot of travel. The dream to have more children in particular was an incredibly hard one to let go of, I grieved it for a long time. Once again, my master plan looked nothing like the reality I was standing in.

Life is Not Linear

I like to come into situations with my steps from A to B pretty much mapped out. I have learned that life is not linear. We don’t go from A to B in a nice straight line. We take steps ahead; we go back a few steps. There might need to be a side step and then another step up. Somewhere there could be a stop on a platform for a while. Sometimes we go around in a circle and end up where we started. We need to continually check though, that we are still taking steps. It’s easy to become frozen when life is not the way you dreamed.

Unfulfilled Dreams Can Be Pivotal Moments

If life were linear, I wonder if we would have the character development we need to live in community with other people. The situations that we encounter along the way that seem at the time to be the most painful detours can be the situations that produce the most growth in us. Those side steps that seem like heartbreak and unfulfilled dreams can be the steps that lead to pivotal moments in our futures.

There is a passage in the bible in John 15 :4-5, where it talks about how we are like the branches of a grapevine and Jesus is like the vine. It says that we are to remain in him. Without the vine (Jesus) we can’t produce fruit. Life is not linear, but if we are not managing all the challenges in partnership with Jesus, they become so much harder. We can continue to walk through the difficult situations that we face because we know that we don’t do it alone. He will produce good things out of the painful detours in our lives when we walk it with him.

Article supplied with thanks to Lorrene McClymont.

About the Author: Lorrene McClymont is a writer and photographer from Hope Images. On her blog ‘Moments to Rest’, she shares about rest, faith, and family.

Feature image: Photo by Sven Piek on Unsplash

What language does God speak? Hebrew? English? ‘Australian’?! Or perhaps, the one we best understand… 

Leigh’s God Conversation

Leigh had a high-profile career in the recruitment industry. In his role as National Accounts director, he was responsible for overseeing 2000 staff across multiple client accounts. It was a face-paced and high pressure position that involved strategic meetings, contract negotiations and frequent travel around the world. Though it was demanding and often stressful, Leigh thrived – at first. But after 13 years, Leigh began to experience a deep sense of un-fulfilment. Life was still good, but something was missing.

In the midst of his growing dissatisfaction, Leigh had a vivid dream. This was unusual since Leigh rarely remembered his dreams. In the dream, Leigh saw himself at the office, standing in front of his treasured whiteboard. Leigh was a big fan of whiteboards. He used them all the time to train and manage his staff and had multiple boards installed in his office. He even had a portable board for his travels.

In the dream, there was writing on the whiteboard. Written in the centre was Leigh’s job title: “national account director.” Then in a circle around his job title were written other areas of his life… “family”, “friends”, “God” and “church.” These were all written in non-permanent marker that was easily erased, but for some reason his job title was written in permanent ink. No matter how hard Leigh tried, it couldn’t be erased.

When Leigh woke up, he knew what God was saying. His job had become the most important area of his life and everything else had been relegated to second place.

After a heartfelt conversation with his wife, Leigh began to reorder his priorities. Later they began to explore a new path for his career—one that would eventually lead to full-time ministry.

God Speaks “Whiteboard”

Leigh’s God conversation shows us what language God speaks. The Holy Spirit spoke in a language Leigh was familiar with. In order to get the message across, God spoke “whiteboard!” The language God used communicated specifically to Leigh’s situation.

This is the beauty of hearing from the Holy Spirit. Remember, the Holy Spirit speaks to remind us of Jesus and then to apply his teachings to our unique situations (John 14:26, 16:13). On earth, Jesus had already spoken to the disciples about how to order their life priorities. God’s kingdom was to be sought first and then all the other areas would be provided for (Matthew 6:33).

Back then of course, Jesus spoke the language of Aramaic using the idioms and metaphors of first century Jews, but in Leigh’s life, the Holy Spirit took those truths and applied them using the language of a 21st century executive! In other words, the Holy Spirit acted as a kind of translator for Jesus.

Perhaps now we can see why Jesus said it was to our advantage that he left! (John 16:7)

The same Holy Spirit that spoke to Leigh has been given to each one of us. As in Leigh’s life, the Spirit takes the universal truths of Jesus and translates it to our personal situations so that we can respond to it. What language does God speak? The one we best understand. 

Article supplied with thanks to God Conversations.

About the Author: Tania Harris is a pastor, speaker, author and the founder of God Conversations.

Feature image: Photo by Slidebean on Unsplash