Dream In Soul – Creativity for the Kingdom:

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Read More in Context

No matter what you get for Christmas the one gift we all get to share will never break or come out with a better version because it’s never-ending…

Eternal Love – what a beautiful gift from a God who came down to pursue and spend Eternity with those He cherishes. He is everlasting and never-changing, worthy of our praise forevermore…come, let us adore Him not just on Christmas but always – Christ the Lord… #thebestPresent #aGiftfromabove #seekHispresence #YouareLoved

“The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.” – Maya Angelou

Imagine being stuck in a constricting cage – then realizing that you have placed those bars of boundary around yourself. People pleasing & fear of man are two snares I have found release from in this season (sometimes in painful and uncomfortable ways) – but it’s amazing how much freedom there is in seeking to please One…

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10

My struggle with anxiety and insecurity started when I was a shy little girl caged in fear that grew as I did. Not knowing where my identity truly originates from I tried to place it anywhere or in anyone elses’ affirmation other than the one that matters most.

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. Proverbs 29:25(NIV)

Being bound to the opinions and expectations of others is like a disease that squeezes the life out of your heart and keeps you from being free – the real you that God created. …Rejection and isolation hurt but sometimes He uses just that to break the chains of anxiety and imprisonment that held you, and shakes the places where you placed your identity so you can have a firm foundation in Him.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)

Approval addiction may go undetected when we long to belong & be accepted, but the condition’s only cure is affirmation from the Creator of the Universe. There is no greater way of being known and loved then having true ‪‎validation from above‬. Look to Him to know who you truly are…

But now, this is what the Lord says—
He who created you, Jacob,
He who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1 (NIV)

Maybe you can relate to my journey to finding my true Identity, watch the video below for a creative summary of my story:

However dark your situation may look, hold on to Hope and don’t lose heart…

“Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day after day…

For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!]

Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 AMP

“We hope in what we do not see because what is unseen is eternal.”
The “Hope In What We Do Not See” is one of the inspiring designs from Dream in Soul Creative Apparel.

Note from the designer Julene, editor of DreaminSoul.com

In life it may be easy to look at our surroundings and circumstances and become deflated because of the pains that throb in our hearts. I wanted to remind anyone who sees this shirt that our true hope is beyond anything we can see. The shirt is based on:

Romans 8:25 – “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

2 Corinthians 4:18 – “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (Click here to read more of this passage in context.)

Click here to find this shirt and other designs at Dream in Soul Creative.