I am one to fall prey to discouragement if I don’t see things moving along at a peppy pace, but I am missing out in big ways if I don’t savor the days I’m living in now. Both the good and bad days have something to teach us, proving that we are alive and trotting along in the destiny God has for us. They may not be what we’ve hoped and dreamed—yet. But someday they might be; and when those days come, we will most likely look back on the good ol’ days with fondness. How much sweeter would it be to enjoy those days now, knowing full well everything is going to work out—or even if it doesn’t, that the Lord is gracious to lead us on to new ventures? However tedious or frustrating they may be, we can enjoy the good ol’ days right now in this very season. We won’t ever have them back. We can’t go backward, only forward. Today will never come again.

I get it, the future looks so delicious; a future of dreams redeemed and made plain in reality sounds so good that you want it all to happen right this minute. But the journey to our dreams is awfully sweet and undeniably difficult. We must keep in mind as we journey toward our dreams that they most likely will require more time, money, responsibility for others, and disappointment. The woman who dreams is no stranger to sacrifice, and the road can be impossibly hard and long. So, why not savor the good ol’ days now? Remember, our good Father is present in it all—able to teach us, mold us, and make us more like Himself.

In the days when the stakes aren’t terribly high, we can bathe in the bathwater of discouragement from the realization that things aren’t exactly as we hoped they would be, or we can breathe deep and be reminded that our God is always at work behind the scenes, crafting us and perfecting the time for our God-sized dreams to happen as He plans, which is always far greater than the plans and timeline we have for ourselves.

Excerpted from the book She Dreams: Live the Life You Were Created For, Tiffany Bluhm, Ó 2019 by Abingdon Press. All rights reserved. Available for pre-order.