Dream, love and sing with all your heart…I’m gearing up for our Spring musical showcase at school. We’ve been practicing our vocals & singing dynamics since January & it all culminates to a show where each of us selected a song that reflects our heart. Mine is Unconditionally by Katy Perry mixed with my original.

I first heard the song on Tyler Perry’s The Passion last year & love the message in that context- how God who is love gave His life for us & poured out His all to pursue relationship with us. He’s been teaching me about unconditional love & setting others above myself, how we can show the world true love when we love with all our heart like He did.

He’s also been teaching me how sometimes we’re called to do things we’re not as passionate about for a greater reason- for me that’s singing. I LOVE songwriting & singing for fun but often get bored with just singing and the idea of making it a career alone so I’ve found ways to incorporate it into my speaking events & a theatrical story I’m writing & had to step out of my comfort zone to perform in person a few years ago. Miranda Nelson of The Elisha Revolution (they’ve been having nightly Fire and Glory services for a year that are fire) inspired me with a message on how when you step out in obedience to God even in areas you’re not excited or passionate about He will give you the passion- especially for the broken & hopeless people we are meant to impact with Love- that has been my motivation when my passion waned.

I’ve spent the past year taking weekly vocal lessons & it has been stretching and challenging- in a good way. I’ve discovered more of myself, more about the spiritual & healing power of music especially in classes at CFNI & more of God’s heart. The bottom picture is me singing a medley of Emeli Sande’s Read All About It & Bethel’s Great Are You for our Winter Showcase. I want to encourage you to step out into the unfamiliar & sing with all your heart because you might be surprised at how fun it will be & how close to God’s love you’ll feel. Stay tuned for my music merged w/ inspiring stories in the way of a great dreamer Walt Disney…

Dream. Hope. Love. That’s what we’re made for…We can have a new beginning and have the freedom to dream again no matter where we’ve been because we find a new purpose in our Creator – we’re part of His awesome dream and He’s the greatest Dreamer of all.

Our hope is forever because there’s more to life than what we see here and now – we’re eternal because He lives. We can love boldly and be secure in the one who is Love because everyone was created by Him and is trying to find their way back to where they belong. I’m so thankful for new starts the greatest Love of all gives us each and every day so we can Dream, Hope, Love, forever… (lyrics in the pic above from a song I’ve been writing )

I love the wonder and joy of the Christmas season – especially how kids remind us of how fun it is to anticipate great things and enjoy life in a carefree way. Whatever you may be going through right now I pray your heart is filled and overflows with that kind of childlike joy, light, love and peace that surpasses understanding not just now but into the New Year and beyond!

You are so very loved – believe it baby, let Love give you the freedom to anticipate and have hope for great things ahead and courage to live out your purpose to create the life of your dreams! much love – Julene

P.S. Some things are better expressed in songs – here’s a snippet of the lyrics of one of my songs “Take It Back” about redeeming the freedom, hope and joy we had at the beginning of our lives, stay tuned for more from my songwriting sessions…

We’ve all messed up…here’s what you do when you’ve made a mistake on your journey of purpose…join me on Periscope @dreamfleur for more inspiration like this…

So. Loved.
So, I thought I knew what those words mean, I’d heard them since I was a little girl, but after years of repetition and pain they became just words on a page to me. It wasn’t until true love rocked my world and revived my heart that I so came alive and could truly see and believe…

For. God.

He pursued my heart with sweet words of tenderness until I ceased my striving for success and stopped running my life to listen. Is that really…You? You are REAL. Whoa. His reality and the new visions and dreams He gave me rescued me from the pit of depression, resuscitated my heart from the death of life without Him.

WOW. His PASSION. The words of His Word become so real and get so personal when you draw in to hear His voice, when He shows you His heart and yours yearns like His, when He invites you on an intimate adventure of purpose for people and you realize just how powerful and passionate this God of love is…

You. Are.

You might feel like one among many but the One who created everything made you uniquely, wonderfully in His reflection. He covered my imperfections with a veil of royalty and acceptance and brings me joy and fulfillment beyond my dreams. He turned the mess of my life into a striking masterpiece and He can bring peace to the shards of your shattered heart – if you’ll just release them.

Believe.

He understands everything you feel, keeps track of every tear, hair and detail, sees what you go through and knows you by name. When you get to know Him you realize your worries and shame are nothing, all you thought you needed are nothing. Without Him we’re nothing – and God plus nothing equals EVERYTHING…

The. World.

From the very beginning He set out on a plan to bring His beloved ones back to Him in the most riveting and real of romances: From a tree in a garden where we became separated, to a tree where Jesus became our sin and a bridge to relationship with Him – a gift of life eternal the way it was meant to be, to the Tree of Life in a garden restored where we will be reunited. Jesus did what He said, came back from the dead and His word will soon prove true when He returns again.

Card and flowers? Yeah, they’re for you…I wanted to remind you of how valuable you are, beautifully made and filled with purpose. You are loved so much more than you can ever imagine or dream! Believe it.

I wish I could adequately describe just how much you are loved, so you could grasp how deep and wide, how long and high it goes, to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that’s better than life…

When I first discovered this love, more riveting than any fairy tale or dream, I came alive from deep sleep, like a princess awakened by a sweet kiss to her prince who risked his life defeating the dragon to break the curse and save me. I became a little girl again, dancing carefree with childlike awe, wonder, and whimsy, believing anything was possible – because it is…

To know that you are loved this much makes you realize your life is worth living on purpose, it gives you permission to play and freedom to dream. No matter where you find yourself in life, what darkness you’ve endured or your relationship status know this one thing – you are loved forever, more than you can imagine or dream and there’s nothing greater or more real than this love.

Selena Gomez says in one of her latest songs that the heart wants what it wants. Listening to the lyrics I find myself relating to the song more than I thought I did…do you? Here’s my take of what the heart wants, part of this month’s Speak Up Project and my We Dream of Love series…

Our hearts are longing for affirmation, romance, love…Stay tuned to hear my story of what my heart wants in Part 2.

Below catch a glimpse of Selena Gomez’s heart in her diary from her “Heart Wants What It Wants” Performance at the American Music Awards…I love how she prepares and how she wants to give her best amidst deep emotions – it’s inspiring to see her be vulnerable and herself…

I was also deeply inspired by this awesome message that encourages singles who are looking for love:

We all fall under two camps: some of us are happy to be alone and don’t want a relationship, while some of us are just wishing and waiting for the right guy or girl to come along any minute. But, all of us are missing out on true love. That true love always involves God because God is true love. When we feel unlovable, God sees us as being worthy. He seeks our own best and He bears all thing. He made the first move, making a way for us to experience the fullness of His love through Christ dying for us while we were still sinners. We may feel like we can’t be loved and want to resist it, but no matter what we’ve done, we can never outrun God’s true love for us.

Made this illustration of one of my greatest inspirations for her birthday. Inspired by Oprah's words on surrendering dreams to God, (plus love this beautiful purple dress she wore on The Life You Want Tour!) "God can dream a bigger dream for me, for you, than you could ever dream for yourself. When you've worked as hard and done as much and strived and tried and given and pled and bargained and hoped…surrender. When you have done all that you can do, and there's nothing left for you to do, give it up." Give it up to that One that is greater than yourself…

Congrats to Oprah and Selma’s director Ava DuVernay who are bringing a dream to life by teaming up for an original drama series on OWN based on Natalie Baszile’s debut novel, “Queen Sugar.” Looking forward to reading the book and watching the series- we so need more purpose-full stories to be told and this collaboration is an amazing one!

Oprah says about the project, “I loved this book and immediately saw it as a series for OWN. The story’s themes of reinventing your life, parenting alone, family connections and conflicts, and building new relationships are what I believe will connect our viewers to this show.”

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The beautiful thing about purpose is that everyone was born with it – the question is will you choose to fully embrace and move in it?

You’ve caught glimpses of it ever since you were a child, when your hope and wonder was still fresh and you explored the world with joy and wide-eyed awe. You’ve always imagined making an impact in the unique way you were created to – so what are you waiting for? You’ve already been chosen…

Deep down you know you weren’t made for the ordinary, you may have been rejected or always felt like a mis-fit – but it’s because you are from more royal origins. You were made to live out a story greater than your wildest dreams, grander than your highest hopes, to love boldly, sowing seeds of healing and setting others free.

This beautiful purpose crafted and written for you, and those you are connected to, is more captivating than any fairy-tale, more riveting than an epic legend or film…So why do we constantly seek outward, aimless distraction, yearning for merit-less validation, entertaining meaningless excuses and powerless foes like fear that dull and pull us away from our real-life reverie?

Below listen to my inspirational pep talk for you entering the New Year, “It’s Your Time to Flourish and Shine”

This year is ours to be found and to seek, to create, dance and play on purpose with childlike belief, to cultivate, thrive and flourish, to shine and savor the love we were made for and finally live out that dream courageously. This 2015 we’re waiting in eager anticipation for you to come awake and realize the truth of who you were always meant to be…free. ‪#‎ariseandshine‬ ‪#‎beYoutothefull‬ ‪#‎liveboldlyonPurpose‬ ‪#‎youareBeautiful‬ ‪#‎alwaysbelieve‬ ‪#‎youremadeformore‬ ]]> http://dreamfleur.com/2015/01/your-dreams-were-made-to-flourish-live-out-your-beautiful-purpose/feed/ 0 http://dreamfleur.com/2014/09/grow-your-dream-while-watering-anothers-a-glimpse-of-my-journey/ http://dreamfleur.com/2014/09/grow-your-dream-while-watering-anothers-a-glimpse-of-my-journey/#respond Mon, 08 Sep 2014 18:25:51 +0000 http://dreamfleur.com/?p=5021

Some say that when you don’t build your dreams, somebody else will hire you to build theirs. This may be true but what’s so wrong with helping someone else build their dreams if it is for a greater purpose that will benefit the lives of many.

One of my life mantras is that their is greatness in service and often before seeing our dreams come to fruition we may be called to help someone else’s vision. It’s important for us to have discernment on when it’s time for us to move on our own dreams, but faithfully serving in a greater mission can sow seeds of character, wisdom and relationships that make you richer than when you began.

Over the past year I’ve been a part of an amazing internship where I was able to be a small part of something big. The journey was difficult and and I sowed much time and energy, but I come out all the richer because of being able to build others’ dreams and meeting some of the most amazing people that have forever changed my life. Below meet some of those people and see a glimpse of our journey of finding purpose: