I Dreamed a Dream

I Dreamed A Dream

As I quickly approach my 44^th birthday, I sometimes think it may be time to pack it up, leave the road and settle down doing something others describe as useful.  Many people would say I am to old to be ripping up the roads, singing across the nations, dragging my husband and 2 doggies along for the ride.  But the truth of the matter is, we can’t think of anything else we’d rather do.  It seems as if the Lord has given us a special grace to do the work we’re doing.  It’s never too late.  It isn’t over until the Lord says so.

One of the things I hear from people is that they think it’s too late for them to achieve their God given dream.  But I believe that as long as there is breath in your body there is time to achieve some part of the dream God has placed in your heart for the advancement of the Kingdom.  It may be modified, it may not grow to be exactly what you thought it would be, but if you still have strength, you still have time.

I always think of Abraham and the promise that the Lord gave him and Sarah, the promise became Abraham’s dream and although he saw only some of it come to pass, he didn’t see it all come into fruition. But he did what God called him to do after getting hemmed up in Egypt, messing around with his nephew Lot and having a child with the handmaid.   Delays, these were delays, but they did not take the Lord by surprise!  God still brought forth His promise to Abraham, his dream of being a father.  In essence Abraham set the foundation for a dream that would belong to the entire world.  A dream that would turn into a blessing for the whole world.

So the past does not matter, the time to start is today.  What if the dream in your heart, is simply this, the foundation of a bigger dream that will meet the needs of millions of others? 

Get Moving!  Don’t wait another minute, the Bible tells us… If you wait for perfect conditions you will never get anything done. (Ecclesiastes 11 Verse 4) NLB

Ask yourself, what does your dream entail that you feel is limited by time?  For example, what if you felt you were suppose to be a champion figure skater, you love ice skating, but now in your 40’s you’re too old to pursue that dream.  But you know the Lord has placed that passion in your heart.  After much prayer, you could found a ministry that reaches out to figure skaters, or arranges free lessons to children who can’t afford lessons while also training them in the truths of the Word of God.  Or maybe you could become a coach’s assistant and win a future world champion to the Lord, who will then share the gospel with millions through their athletic efforts.  Time does not diminish the promise of God!  Answer the following questions:

List the limitations you feel you’re facing because you feel it’s too late.

Spend some serious time in prayer asking the Lord to reveal to you how your original dream should look now.  Journal those answers, then make a commitment to do one thing everyday to achieve the dream.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about fear, your dreams, God’s provision and overcoming the thought that it is to late!  Leave me a comment here on the blog or at www.facebook.com/ministryofnaima

God Will Provide!

The summer is upon us and I know many of us are thankful that the snow and cold are gone and new life is blooming.  As we move quickly towards the end of the year, I don’t want another moment to pass without you being prepared to achieve your God Given Dream.  Last month we talked about facing our fears, this month we’ll address the issue of lack.  We must remember there is no lack in God, He has it all in hand and He has made provision for you.

Have you ever felt that you could not achieve your God given dreams because you didn’t have what you needed to make it all come together?  You feel you can’t go forward because you don’t have the proper resources to do what you know you’ve been called to do.  But God is great and there is no lack in Him!  There is always a way to get started even if you don’t have a million bucks in your hand.  If God called you to do it, then you have what you need in your hand – Read Judges Chapter 6 and use Gideon as role model, I do!

There is one simple fact that cannot be denied when you are facing a lack of resources to move forward in your God given dream.  You know someone, somewhere who has what you need or you know someone who knows someone who has what you need.  All you have to do is pray and then ask.  I’ve gotten more stuff that I’ve needed in the last few months from folks simply by asking!  Staff volunteers, recording equipment, financial donations, assistance in booking just to name a few, just from asking.  The Word tells us to ask and we shall receive, so get to asking.  And remember the universal law of reaping and sowing, if someone asks you, be sure to give it if you got it! Get yourself some paper and answer the following questions:

What are your biggest needs to get started?

Who can you ask for assistance to get moving?  List those folks:

Select a concrete date on when you’ll ask them for what you need:

Remember!

-          Always remember, the first person to ask is the Lord, He has everything you need!

-          Don’t be afraid to ask them for suggestions if they don’t have what you need

-          Take what they are willing to give, God can do much with a little

-          Apply the 2 Step Approach, “Pray and Then Ask!”

How have you been working to overcome your fear?  After you ask for something you need, please share the praise reports as well!  I’d love to hear more about it.  Please leave me comment on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ministryofnaima or here on the blog!

To learn more get the training manual, Go With What You Got!To Learn More Purchase The Book - Go With What You Got!

3 Power Keys

I can be my own worst enemy.  Clinging onto past mistakes, missed opportunities, fear and doubt.  It’s almost as if I forget the God I serve has all power in heaven and earth in His hands. What would it mean to truly grasp the promises of the Lord in 2015, to forget about the past, overcome the fear and move past the pain?  That’s my heart’s desire.  I believe I’ve stopped myself, been my own worst enemy way to long.  I’ve been praying for clarity and asking for wisdom and these three things have come up in my searching for total freedom in God.  I like to call them my power keys!

Power Key One

Leave the past in the past.  We’re always focusing on worrying about tomorrow, but in truth isn’t our worry about tomorrow often based on what happened yesterday?  Let’s all sing a great Disney tune and simply, “Let It Go!”  If you fallen short, God forgives, if you are harboring guilt, you can’t change the past, if you’ve been hurt, more then likely the other party has already moved on.  If it didn’t happen quite the way you thought it would, trust that God has a bigger and better plan, after all, His ways are high above our own.

Power Key Two

Worship before work.  At this moment I have 8 things on my “To Do List” and that’s not counting all the things I have to do on a daily basis that are not on the list.  Important things like, the laundry, quality time with my husband, playing with the puppies, working on my booking schedule, writing, practice, ministry events… you get the drift.  It is easy for me to get overwhelmed and lost under a mound of paperwork, songs that need to be practiced or dinner that needs to be cooked.  And sadly I must admit that I have allowed the pressure to build that I skimp on the most important priority – my time with the Lord.  I justify it with – He’s always there or He understands or I’ll chat with Him as I lay down for bed.  Then I find myself weak, weary, and worn down.

I know from past experience that the Lord can accomplish more in ten minutes then I can accomplish in an entire day.  So I’ve adopted the attitude of putting Him first and what doesn’t get done, just doesn’t get done.  He knows what needs to get done and by when and He is so faithful to always make a way.  I choose this year to worship before I work!

Power Key Three

Victory is right around the corner, if only you believe.  We know faith without works is dead.  You have the faith, you’ve covered it all in prayer, now simply go for it and trust that the power, resources and support you need will be supplied by an all mighty God who has your best interest in heart.  Victory is the ability to overcome opposition – it is the small steps taken consistently that build up to produce breakthrough!  Be consistent, be a person of action, and cover it all with prayer, praise and worship.

What Power Keys or Faith Nuggets are you holding on to for 2015?  I’d love for you to share!  drop me a note either via email or leave me a comment on my blog page or my Facebook page – www.facebook.com/ministryofnaima

Planning a women’s ministry event?  Interested in a house concert or special music for your church event?  Need a guest worship leader?  Please contact me, I’m now taking requests for bookings for 2015 and I would love to be of service to you.  Send me an email at naima@ministryofnaima.com. 

The Year of No Goals

2014… what a year of trials, valleys and rocky places, I am so thankful that I made it over with my faith and my strength in tact.  And it seems that I am not the only one who had a year that left them just a bit battered and bruised. But let’s not rehash it, let’s shake it off and move forward with our faces lifted towards the sky, standing on the promises of the Lord.

The New Year is a time to set your resolutions, personal, ministry and business goals, mapped out an in depth action plan.  Every year I toil over my personal goals, spend hours making a map, figuring out the plan, and every year I come up feeling like I fell short. I pass through the same places and feel like I’m making no difference.

But not this year… this year is the year of no goals.  I actually started talking to Jon about this several months ago sharing how depressed I felt when I hadn’t actually arrived where I thought I should arrive. 

The Bible tells us in Habakkuk 2: Then the LORD answered me and said, "Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run."For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.…

Well, I’ve written my vision for 2015 – To use music and education to lift up the name of Jesus so that all men may be drawn unto Him.  I’m not setting any goals, I’m not making any elaborate plans, I am simply going to wake up each morning and ask the Lord, what would you have me do today? 

Now I’m not suggesting everyone take this approach, I think goal setting is good. Goals give focus and direction.  When accomplished they bring great motivation and personal satisfaction.  So do set your goals.  But for me, after years of not seeming to meet my personal goals, I’ve come to realize that either something is wrong with the goals I’m setting, my approach is incorrect, or my goals are simply that – my goals, not the goals that the Lord has designed for me. 

There are still projects and plans in place, don’t get me wrong.  I plan to get back to the basics, spend more time singing and leading worship as the Lord opens doors.  The new CD is coming out and I want to share that with the world.  And the new book is done to, Lessons From The Back Seat or How I Learned to Become a Wife.  But I’ve not set any goals in regards to how many books I want to sell or where I’d like to sing this year.  I’m just going to knock on doors and go through them as the Lord opens them, I going to spend more time praying and seeking Him then promoting things and I’m only going to work on projects that He nudges me to work on.  A different way to approach building a ministry for sure, but I think that if I keep the vision central in my sight – To lift Him Up, I’ll achieve greater things then what I can put down on paper.

I’m off on the adventure of a lifetime, and there will be plenty of updates, so come share in the mayhem and let’s lift up the Name of Jesus.  No goals on paper, just a desire to follow where He leads and bless those He puts me in front of.

Would Love Your Feedback!

What do you think of me not setting goals this year?  I’d love your prayers and feedback, drop me a note either via email or leave me a comment on my blog page or my Facebook page – www.facebook.com/ministryofnaima  I’d love to hear from you and I’d love your prayers!

New Book! 

Don’t forget to pick up a copy of my new book – Lessons FromThe Back Seat (Or How I Learned To Be A Wife) from Amazon!

How Can I Serve You?

Planning a women’s ministry event?  Interested in a house concert or special music for your church event?  Need a guest worship leader?  Please contact me, I’m now taking requests for bookings for 2015 and I would love to be of service to you.  Send me an email at naima@ministryofnaima.com. 

Running In Circles

Every once in a while I come across a book that changes my entire mindset. There is of course the Bible – our living, breathing, guidebook to life. My favorite by Bruce Wilkerson’s, The Dream Giver, which inspired me to move out of the land of familiar, push past being ordinary and live the Big Dream that the Giver of Dreams gave me. Walking on Water by Madeline E’Lengle is another favorite, it inspired me to look for God in every place, in every moment, and in every person, and to capture these glimpses of glory in the songs I write. 

Currently, I’m reading, The Circle Maker by Pastor Mark Batterson.  Batterson has challenged me to draw circles around my prayers like the first century Jewish Sage, Honi.  During a devastating drought in Israel, Honi, drew a circle in the sand, stepped inside and made his intentions known, he would not leave the circle until the Lord answered his bold request for rain.  Now that must have taken some faith, to determine that you were not going to give up until you heard from God!  And as Honi prayed, the rain began to fall.

I don’t think you can get that kind of response from the Lord without being truly intimate with Him. I mean it hadn’t rained in over a year when Honi started to beseech the Father. He had to be praying before he stepped into the circle.

We need diligent prayer like that in our lives. You have to pray long and pray hard and never give up as Batterson tells us in his book.  Drawing a circle is about trusting that the God of the Universe will answer your prayers and your responsibility is to keep praying, keep believing, keep seeking, keep thanking, keep praising until the manifestation of the prayer stands before you.  .

I am now daily drawing prayer circles around my marriage, this ministry, my family, prayer requests others have given me, this nation, the world, Israel, salvation, healings, big dreams that are being birthed in my heart to serve the Lord and His people.  With Godly intention and faith filled purpose I am running in circles because I am determined to hear well done good and faithful servant! No more limp prayers that go over the same ground… nope, I want to stand in the circle and see the rain!

40 Ways To Market, Promote and Develop Your God Given Dream!

40 Ways To Market, Promote and Develop Your God Given Dream!


Grace and Peace Loved Ones!

I am excited about a new class I have to offer those who are determined to achieve their God Given Dream! As we gear up for 2012, this is a perfect time to review your accomplishments, set your goals for next year and develop a strategic plan that will honor the Lord, bless the Kingdom and meet the needs of those you have been assigned to reach!

Sometimes we struggle with finding creative ways to share our gifts with the world. This new class will give you creative ideas that you may not have thought about and will assist you in moving your ministry forward!

Here’s a taste of what the class will offer:

Number 10 – Offer free giveaways to college radio stations. Do an online search for the stations or contact the Student Activities Office for information about contacting the station manager – you can give away products, CDs, or even services. The DJs will mention your name/company name on air and it will be free promotion for you for very little cost.

Number 37 – Host a yearly business or ministry dinner. Give updates on the work you do, recognize supporters and investors build a support team when you invite the community to a dinner that highlights your dream. Invite the mayor, the local newspapers, other nonprofit organizations; anyone you feel can assist you in moving your dream forward.

There are more then 40 of these types of tips designed to solidify your foundation, improve your networking abilities, increase your exposure and maximize your marketing budgets!

In an effort to continue to support Broken Box Ministries and allow us to continue to provide quality programs, this class is available for a limited time for your love gift of any amount!

If you’d like access to 40 Ways To Market, Promote and Develop Your God Given Dream, simply send a love offering by December 1, 2012 via pay pal (www.paypal.com) to naimasbrokenbox@yahoo.com or via snail mail to: Broken Box Ministries, 410 Clover Street , Fairborn , OH 45324 . The class will be sent to you via MP3 on December 2, 2012. Or if you so choose CD (please include a $2 shipping fee for CDs).

Don’t miss this informative and practical class that will assist you in taking your dream to the next level! This information is adaptable for music ministries, Christian businesses, nonprofit organization or other ministries seeking to grow and develop.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Thank you in advance for your support and thank you for allowing us to be a part of supporting you as you achieve… Your Calling!

Blessings!


Naima

2011 The Year of Unfinished Business

So, here I am determined to achieve a multitude of goals in 2011, got my action plan all thought out, developed a list of projects to take on and was ready to take it to the Lord in prayer. But then I felt a pause in my spirit. And a list, a long list of a multitude of projects, unfinished business, unsorted financial records and sticky tabs of half written songs came to mind.

When I began to actually think about all the unfinished projects I had, all of the things I had started and not finished I felt like the Lord was saying, “Don’t dream another dream, launch a new program, develop a new idea until you’ve proven faithful over these small things.”

Faithful… doing what you say you are going to do, when you say you are going to do it. A simple but true definition. And how could God know that He could trust me, that I could move on to bigger things in ministry if I had not been faithful over the small things that He had given me to do? That’s a major life lesson: In order to move forward to bigger things you must be faithful over little things – right from the Word of God.

I came to understand that I had not been faithful not only to the Lord but to those I’d been assigned to reach through the ministry He had given me. I preach all the time that your dreams are not for you, but rather they are the manifestation of the love of God coming through you to encourage, edify, empower, educate and yes, even entertain His people. And all my uncompleted projects represented some ministry that the Lord had given me that I had not given to His people. Yikes, now who wants to stand before the Lord and answer for that? Not me!

And let’s not even talk about missed opportunity! Unfinished projects resulted in bookings that never happened, interviews that never got conducted, books that had not been finished… I could go on and on.

So I made a list and I’m tackling my unfinished business, it’s a daunting task but one that must be done. And not only do I have to finish the projects, I realize that I have to put a system in place so I overcome my habit of generating unfinished business.

For example, I came into 2011 with over 300 emails in my inbox that needed some kind of attention – over 300!!! Now that’s just wacko. And so I gave myself a week to answer, handle or deal with ever single message. I refused to deal with any other project or situation until I dealt with all that old email. I spent seven days preparing press packets to go out that had been requested, submitting music to radio stations I had inquired of, answering artist questions, writing thank you notes, condolences cards and renewing memberships and canceling e-zine subscriptions. And then I made a decision, I would respond to each email the moment I read it, if I wasn’t able to respond I wouldn’t even read it. So far, it’s worked! My inbox has less then 20 emails in it!

I’ve now moved on to finishing my book, Confessions of a Big Girl and this past week I did not allow myself to write anything else – no songs, poems or work on other books until it was done. Check two on my unfinished business, my proof is actually ready to be reviewed before final publishing!

So 2011 – the year of finishing unfinished business, keep reading because this should be exciting! Why? Because I know enough about the Lord to know He won’t stop with my professional life. It’s just a matter of time before we’re digging into my personal stuff – my own intimate unfinished business. And when He starts digging that stuff up, my life always turns into a whirlwind of wacky lessons like Open Pants and Pumping Gas…. What the heck is that you might ask? Check the video and have a laugh!



Stayed tuned for the ongoing adventures of Dr. Nay!

Blessings!