In 2009, I created a vision board. It started as a devotional with my children when they were younger. I loved getting my kids together to do activities. Even though they are older now, it is still something I enjoy, except now I save it for Christmas. I look forward to doing crafts every year!
I was introduced to the idea of creating vision boards and decided it would be fun for them to create one too. It was wonderful to see the things they put on theirs. I wish I had kept them. They put things like no bedtime, unlimited sweets, and pizza for dinner every day… Thinking about that time brings me a lot of joy. Their visions for their age were radical—visions that, from their perspective, would take a miracle to change. I feel bad because some of those visions happened, but they had to wait years for them!
Inspired by their pure hearts to dream, I decided I too would courageously create a vision board and be radical. I allowed myself to be in that moment; I can still remember that day sitting at the table with magazines and papers laid out. As I looked through them, my goal was to try to find pictures that could describe the images in my mind and the way I would feel once achieving them. I tried to think about what it could look like. Just thinking of that moment fills me with emotion because I never imagined how that was going to be a pivotal moment in my life, a moment where I allowed myself to dream and imagine, with no reservations, no obstacles, simply imagining and putting it on paper!
There are visions that, as much as you describe them to someone, they are limited in grasping them. So it was wonderful to let the desires in my head, which filled me with joy, come to life as much as they could. Although I didn’t find the perfect images, the ones I did find were very close to the feeling or vision.
Once I was done, I decided to put it on my wall, just as I placed the kids' boards on theirs.
I chose to put it in my bathroom; I wanted it somewhere I would see it every day. Even though I saw it daily, I didn’t pay much attention at first, but then I decided to start praying about those things. It was nice; I didn’t pray every day, but I did occasionally.
One day, as I looked at the board, I literally could hear a Scripture in my head. It was like the Holy Spirit was whispering, “faith without deeds is dead.” I went to look up the Scripture and read it. I read James 2:14-26:
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. (James 2:14-26)
And just like that, something clicked: I needed to take steps towards those visions. I could keep praying, but things just wouldn’t happen by chance; I had to put in some effort. So, I did.
I started taking steps towards those goals, and it was exciting AND sometimes scary. During the scary times, I would phone a friend so I could keep moving.
As I took steps, something happened inside me: I felt more confident about where God was leading me, and I took bolder steps. I worked “muscles” that had lost strength. I couldn't have imagined how strong they would become.
As a result, the clippings on my vision board became a reality. I was experiencing them in real time. God was walking with me, and I was facing the fears that had kept my dreams and desires on paper waiting to come to life.
I can't wait to see what other amazing things I will experience that will remind me that it is my job to take the steps, and it’s God’s job to make them grow, or not. Either way, my job: to be obedient to the vision He places inside me.
The images below are pieces of my vision board. They remind me that there are still dreams I hope to see come to life, and proof that every single step counts when you courageously decide to act on your vision.
To God be the glory!
