Dreams

Been thinking about this one a lot lately.
I feel that since living at home and undergoing much strain in certain situations I have lost my dreams.....did I ever have any? Am sure that I did.
So something I am trying to do at the moment is to recapture those dreams, rediscover them and pursue them to discover if they are part of Gods plan.
1) To be rid of fear for the future. Not your normal conventional dream I know but something I have discovered is constantly in my subconcious. With all the talk regarding pensions and we are not saving enough for the future and never being able to afford a house of my own on my current wages this is something that I crave. Most certainly a dream I know God wants me to accomplish and something that will have to be tackled every day!
2) To gain more indepth knowledge of the Bible, maybe through Bible school. A friend of mine went to Torchbearers bible school in Sweden and talked about the tranquility, peace, silence and space that she had during this time. I crave that so much. To have an oppurtunity to be refreshed, equipped and challenged with no other distractions for a period of time.
3) To work abroad. Not enitrely sure where and doing what but it is a desire I have my heart. One thing i cannot imagine though is doing it alone. Which leads onto my other dream.
4) To be married. I desire to share my life with someone so much. To have a family and be part of a team. To have some one to share thoughts, dreams and struggles with and to be devoted to a God pursuing life with that one person.
5) To relearn the clarinet. This is one that I know I can get started on immediately, I just need to find a teacher!

Our automated responses

This really struck me last night.
We were waiting for a youthgroup to arrive and a man from our church was chatting to Esther and I. He asked me "How are you?" and without even thinking I responded "Very well thank you". I never even thought about it. If I had I would have been the first to admit that in some areas I am not feeling "very well" at all. But why do we give these automatic responses? It took me back to my time in America and the differences in greetings. They couldn't quite understand when I would say "Hello", walk slowly past and say "You OK?". To them that was an indication that I had seen something that wasn't "OK" in their demeanor. Whereas in Britian we use it merely as a greeting. But are us British in the wrong for doing that? Do we therefore not take time to listen to the answers that people want to give? Have we created an "automated response" in ourselves and others by our hasty greeetings? I don't know. Just a thought.
Any responses?

Ephesians 1:4

"Long before he laid down earth's foundations,
he had us in mind,
had settled on us as the focus of his love,
to be made whole and holy by his love."

How awesome is this verse. I need to take that into my heart and truly believe it.

Have a blessed day everyone and may you be made whole by Gods love