I just interviewed singer Melinda Doolittle and I was so inspired by her outlook on life. Melinda was toned-deaf as a child and told she could not sing; yet something deep within her told her not to give up. Singing was the one thing she was passionate about; it was her dream. She writes in her book, Beyond Me, “I wanted a voice to come out of me that made people stop and listen.” Melinda decided not to allow her shortcomings as a singer to discourage her from her ultimate goal, so she took the advice of her mother and prayed hard. Not only did Melinda pray, she put her faith into action by signing up for a talent show and practicing as much as she could. When the performance day came, Melinda discovered the sound of her voice was more powerful than she could have imagined. God had answered her prayer and given her the voice she had dreamed of. She writes, “I love encouraging other people to dream, to open their hearts and minds and see what they can do and what God can do in and through them.”

Just hearing Melinda’s story encouraged me to keep dreaming big. A lot of times, I stop dreaming because I don’t think I have the resources to make my dreams a reality, or I am discouraged because something I had hoped for in the past didn’t come to pass. In my heart, I am scared to fail—scared that the dream is too outrageous. And I convince myself that my dream is not that important.

After talking to Melinda and reading her book, I was reminded that God our Father is the author of the dreams that are in our hearts—He is the ultimate dream giver. God puts those desires in our hearts because He has plans to help them come to pass. And when our dreams become a reality, He is glorified.

Thinking about this made me realize that God has a wealth of resources in His kingdom just waiting to be tapped into by His children who dare to believe that their dreams really can come true. Yet it does take faith on our parts: faith to believe that God truly cares about what is in our hearts and faith to know that He will work in us to make those things come to pass.

This morning before I came to work, I was a little nervous about my interview with Melinda. I was having doubts about my ability to conduct an interview on-camera. I questioned myself with thoughts like, “Am I qualified for this?” “What if I ask the wrong questions?” “What if I fail miserably and discover I am really bad at this?” God dropped a Scripture into my spirit from Ephesians 2:10: ^“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

After the interview with Melinda was over, I got so much positive feedback from everyone—my supervisor, the production crew, and even Melinda. She wrote a note to me and said, “Thank-you for such a great interview, you are amazing!” I just had to smile because I felt like God was winking at me saying, “Yes, I prepared you for this and I delight to see you succeed.”

This experience has taught me that God has already prepared the fulfillment of our dreams in advance; He is just waiting on us to trust Him enough to step into our destiny.  We can all learn something from Melinda’s passion for music, her dependence on God, and her unwavering faith to know that “He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” (Ephesians 3:20)

I would encourage you all to dream big, pray hard, and take practical steps toward reaching your goals. God will do the rest! He will amaze you with the things He will work for you, in you and through you, as you trust Him. Before you know it, you too will be living your dream!

This is a blog entry from producer Simisola Komolafe. Feel free to comment below.