My birthday letter to all you dreamers, forerunners, and pioneers out there:

If you've read my earlier posts or sat in conferences where I've shared, there's one thing I would always say about dreaming with God. I would tell people that dreaming with God requires conquering three giants: the fear of rejection, the fear of man, and the fear of disappointment. I shared this with the passionate certainty of a wide-eyed dreamer, convinced that if we could just overcome these fears, we'd be unstoppable in pursuing God's calling.

But nine years on, time and experience have taught me there's a fourth giant, one that doesn't just need conquering — it needs embracing. It's the reality of falling, failing, and rising again.

I smile now at that earlier version of myself, so eager to 'change the world', so ready to chase every God-given dream. Don't get me wrong — that holy enthusiasm was beautiful and necessary. But what I didn't understand then was that true dreaming with God isn't just about the mountaintop moments. It's about walking through the valleys too — where dreams sometimes go to die and be reborn.

Recently, as I read Brené Brown's 'Rising Strong', her words resonated deeply with where God has brought me.

The journey of dreaming with Him isn't a straight line to success. It's learning to grieve losses I never expected. It's sitting with failure instead of rushing past it. It's discovering that picking myself up isn't a detour from the dream— it's part of it.

I would like to think that my faith looks different now. It's quieter, deeper, more grounded. I've learned that God's dreams don't just unfold in spite of our failures —they often unfold through them. There's a beautiful strength that comes not from avoiding the fall, but from rising again, marked by grace, shaped by truth, held by Jesus.

I still want to change the world, still burn to obey God's calling — but now I understand that the greatest changes often happen in the smallest moments of faithfulness.

The dreams haven't grown smaller; they've grown deeper roots.

And perhaps that's what God was after all along — not just dreamers who would run for Him, but dreamers who would remain, pressed but not crushed, stretched but not broken, tested but still trusting.

To those just starting their journey of dreaming with God: yes, face those three giants. But know this too —some of your richest growth will come not from conquering fear, but from failing, falling, and finding that God's presence is just as real in the rising as it was in the running. Sometimes the dream God has for you isn't just about where you're going — it's about who you become in the getting back up.