Have you ever felt that your dreams are “superfluous,” frivolous, or even a little embarrassing in light of all the pain in the world? Maybe you’ve thought, “Who am I to want that?” or “There are bigger problems out there—my desires don’t really matter.”
Beloved, what if the opposite is true? What if those deep, holy desires that just will not die are actually part of Heaven’s answer to a hurting creation, which includes you? What if, in a very real way, creation is waiting for your “yes”?
In this final part of the God’s Dreams, Your Dreams: Is God That Good? series, I want to connect two truths we’ve already been exploring: that God is better than you’ve ever imagined, and that you are worthy in Christ as the fabric of His delight. Now we’re going to take the next step and look at how God’s dreams for you are woven into His dream for the whole cosmos—and why creation is waiting for your “yes” in your unique flavor. This just makes me so happy!
A Dreaming God and the Dream of You
In my recent blog on the goodness of God that’s “too good to be true,” I shared how Papa is not double-minded, harsh, cruel, dispassionate, or disinterested. He is pure goodness from start to finish in the unendingness of His Being, the Father of lights, Who only gives good and perfect gifts.
We then went deeper in You Are Worthy in Christ: God’s Dreams, Your Desires, and the Fabric of His Delight, where we looked at how He chose you before the foundation of the world, joined Himself to you, and named you worthy in Christ—holy and blameless in His sight with unstained innocence. You are not an accident, and you are not an afterthought, and He doesn’t just tolerate you because it is in His job description.
Scripture calls you His workmanship, His poetry:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:10, NKJV
That Greek word for workmanship is poema. You are God’s poem, His artwork, the fabric of His delight. The idea of workmanship means that its Creator spends a lot of intent, thought, and focus perfecting His creation. The idea of poetry brings in the concepts of passion, beauty, mystery, art—a serenade that cannot be boiled down into its component parts. Isn’t God so lovely, as well as masterful?
That makes you beautiful and powerful in your flavor—His image and likeness, the object of HIs passion. The truth of the mystery of “you” is a son or daughter in whom He is well pleased, before you could do anything well or screw anything up. And you are not powerful enough to change His opinion of you! So you might want to change how you see yourself.
If a God like that—Love Himself, dreamt you up in Love, marked you in Christ, and prepared good works for you to walk in, then it makes sense that He also planted His dreams for you inside your own heart—dreams He intends for you to fulfill. Those deep, recurring desires that echo through the years carry His fingerprints. Creation is waiting for your “yes” to those God-breathed dreams, even when you feel small or unqualified.
Remember it is not about you apart from Him; as you remain or abide in Him, this is where you bear much fruit (John 15:5). You work up nothing of eternal consequence apart from Him. So set your heart to flow from the gorgeous seamless oneness with Him that is yours out of His choice and passion. This is where your “yes” is crucial. Holy Spirit will help you do this!
Creation on Tiptoe: Why Your “Yes” Matters
Romans 8 gives us one of the most breathtaking pictures of what’s happening behind the scenes of our ordinary lives:
I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us. – Romans 8:18, TPT, emphasis added
And then:
The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters!– Romans 8:19, TPT, emphasis added
The Passion Translation says creation is standing on tiptoe, longing for the unveiling of sons and daughters. That unveiling of sons and daughters is not just a far-off “some-day”event. It’s now—the ongoing, slow, beautiful waking up of God’s kids to who they’ve always been in Him—and to the dreams He planted in them.
When you begin to believe and root yourself in the truth that God is Love and is only good, you start to connect with the truth that you are worthy in Christ. You also can embrace the reality that He has placed good works and holy desires in you. All these truths shift something in you. You stop seeing your life as a random collection of events that you are at the mercy of, and start recognizing that creation is waiting for your “yes.” Creation is groaning for your “yes” to Love, to following Love, to creativity, to possibility, to showing up as the unique reflection of Jesus you already are. Wake up, sleeping beauty!! Wake up ugly duckly! Wake up son or daughter of God! Wake up bride of Christ!
Your “yes” does not replace Jesus’ finished work. It finds its origin in and emanates from it. It participates in it—partnering with the yearning of Love Himself! Your “yes” is how the glory that’s already in you starts to be revealed in “real” time, in “real” places, in “real” circumstances, with “real” people. (Note, I put “real” in quotes because the unseen realm is more real and enduring than the seen, material, subject to change realm!) The unveiling of sons and daughters becomes visible when everyday believers risk responding to God’s dreams for them, and realize that they are extraordinary because that is how they were designed. That’s such good news!
Who You Are vs. What You Do
To walk this out without burning out, we need to distinguish something: your unshakable ontology (who you are in Christ) versus your changing roles and assignments (what you do).
Who you are: beloved son or daughter, joined to Jesus, righteous, holy, worthy in Christ, the poema of God. That never changes. It is eternal established by and in Him!
What you do: parent, caregiver, business owner, artist, student, minister, volunteer… Those things can and do change with seasons, health, geography, growth, and simple life transitions.
If you confuse your roles with your identity, then when a role ends or shifts, everything feels like it collapses. But when your identity is anchored in Christ, your roles become expressions of God’s dreams for you in a given season. They are important, but they are not you.
This is where spiritual transformation comes in. As you let the Holy Spirit renew your mind, you begin to live from your true self in Christ instead of chasing identity through performance. That frees you to say yes when God nudges you into a new dream or chapter of an old dream. It comforts you when an old assignment ends and relationships morph with that. You remain you, and creation is waiting for your “yes“ in each new chapter.
Desires, Discernment, and God’s Dreams in Your Heart
Of course, not every desire is from God. It seems silly to have to say that, but honestly sometimes WE are silly. Some impulses really are selfish, fearful, flat out wicked—all of which are rooted in unhealed pain or lies. James reminds us that destructive desires give birth to sin and death, and we’ve all tasted that.
But that doesn’t mean desire itself is dangerous. Scripture also says:
Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. – Psalm 37:4, NIV
This is not a vending-machine promise; it’s a picture of alignment. As you delight in the Lord, His heart and yours begin to move together. Your will resonates with His good, glorious, beautiful, and redemptive will. He reshapes and matures your desires, but He doesn’t shame you for having them–even the truly messed up perverted ones. There is no condemnation in Christ (Romans 8:1).Over time, God’s dreams for you and your own deepest longings start to sound surprisingly similar. This is the seamless fruit of having walked with God—you look, smell and act more and more like Him, bearing gorgeous fruit! Often others can see the changes before you can.
So how do you discern?
- Does this desire move in the direction of Love—for God, for others, for yourself in a healthy way John 13:34-35; 1 Cor. 13:4-8)?
- Does it align with the character of Jesus: Spirit of Truth, self-giving, life-giving, non-manipulative, self controlled, restorative, non-condemning, forgiving?
- Is it in line with the fruit of Holy Spirit. vs. the flesh Is it of Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5)?
- Is it something that keeps resurfacing, even after disappointment, as if Heaven keeps whispering, “This still matters”?
When the answer is yes, it’s worth paying attention. Creation is waiting for your “yes” in those areas, because your “yes” becomes a channel for heaven-on-earth in your specific metron—your sphere of influence. Co-creating with God happens right there, as you bring your decisions, gifts, and desires into conversation with Him.
Co-Creating with God in Your Everyday Life
Sometimes phrases like “co-creating with God” can sound lofty, but it is actually very down to earth and practical.
Co-creating with God looks like:
- The accountant who runs her business with integrity and compassion, freeing clients from fear and chaos around money.
- The teacher who sees each student as the poema of God and speaks life over them.
- The artist who paints from a place of healing, and people weep in front of the canvas without knowing why.
- The parent who breaks generational cycles of shame and raises children in the atmosphere of unconditional love.
These are not “less spiritual” than preaching, teaching, or leading worship. They are the unveiling of sons and daughters in real time. They are what happens when God’s dreams for you start to take on shape, color, and weight in the world.
In all of this, you are not striving to make something happen alone. You are listening, responding, and moving with a God Who is already and constantly at work (Phil. 2:13). Spiritual transformation isn’t you muscling your way into a heroic life; it’s you saying yes to the One Who is already dancing over you and over creation.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. – Ephesians 3:20, NKJV
Did you catch it? His power is working in us. He is the source, and we are the joyful partners. Co-creating with God becomes a natural overflow of trusting His goodness and responding to His nudges.
Creation Is Waiting for Your Yes—Not Your Perfection
If you’re anything like me, you may feel the weight of this and think, “Oh no, what if I mess it up? What if I miss it?” Deep breath, nobody panic!
Creation is waiting for your “yes,” not your perfection.
You are joined to the One Who works all things together for good:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. – Romans 8:28, NKJV
You are not powerful enough to derail the goodness of God or change His opinion of you! You will make mistakes; we all do. This is not a glib “it doesn’t matter” attitude, but an understanding that this is not based on your perfect performance, but on His! But even your missteps become raw material in the hands of the Master Redeemer. He is so good at bringing beauty from ashes that sometimes we almost forget there were ashes. Isn’t God just so exquisitely masterful?
Your part is simple, though not always easy: stay in conversation with Him, keep your heart open, and dare to say yes in the small ways in front of you. The Spirit will lead; that’s His job. You get to respond. As you do, your unveiling as a son or daughter becomes more visible, and creation really does experience more of Heaven through you. THAT is God’s plan for redemption and He is a redeeming Genius!!!
A Gentle Practice: One Dream, One Yes
I’d love to leave you with a simple, heart-level practice:
- Ask Jesus to highlight one desire or dream that keeps resurfacing, even after disappointment.
- Write it down, without editing or judging it.
- Sit with Him and pray something like:
“Father, I give You the right to direct my life. If this desire is part of Your heart, breathe on it again. If something in it needs healing or reshaping, I invite You into that, too.” - Ask, “What is one small, courageous step I can take with You toward this dream?” Then listen. It might be a phone call, a journal entry, a class, a conversation, or simply resting and letting hope be rekindled.
Remember, creation is waiting for your yes, but you don’t have to manufacture the entire outcome. You get to walk with a wildly good God Who adores you, Who planted His own dreams in you and delights to see you fully alive.
If you’d like to go deeper into this message, I unpack it more in Episode 315 of Perspectives with Catherine Toon, God Planted His Dreams in You | Spiritual Transformation.
🎬 You can watch it here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/g8MW486pC04
And if your heart is still tender from years of shame or feeling unworthy, you may also find it helpful to revisit the last two blogs in this series on God’s goodness and your worthiness in Christ. Let them soak into those deep places that secretly wonder if any of this could really be true for you.
Beloved, you are not random. You are the poema of God. God’s dreams for you are real, and in ways you can’t yet see, creation is waiting for your “yes.”
Love, Catherine Toon