Last week, 16-year-old Gabby Douglas won Gold in the women’s gymnastics individual all-around competition. She has personality, talent and charisma that reminds me of Mary Lou Retton in 1984, and her super-sweet image is already showing up on boxes of Corn Flakes. Now that she has Gold on her resume, it’s easy to assume that she always had everyone believing in her dreams along with her. Right?

Wrong.

In this article, Martha Karolyi said that five months ago, she thought Gabby was an “average-good gymnast.” When her husband, the famous Bela Karolyi, was asked a year ago if he could envision her with gold, he said, “Of course not. Impossible!” Even her coach Liang Chow, admitted that two years ago he “did not believe this could happen.”

Those aren’t words anyone wants to hear. Average. Impossible. It will never happen.

Does that sound like the words you’re hearing lately when it comes to your own personal dreams? Impossible – you’ll never find love. You’re too average – you could never impact others in that ministry. It will never happen – it’s too late and your ship has sailed. If your dream hasn’t happened by now, it’s not going to happen at all.

Now, I don’t believe in blanket, you-can-have-it-all type dreams that promise health, wealth, and power to any and everyone who “just believes” it strongly enough. But I do believe that God places dreams in our hearts and that He has the ultimate ability to make those dreams a reality.

Just look at Joseph.

Joseph had a dream when he was a young child. His dream was big, ridiculous, and made fun of by his entire family. Nevertheless, it came true because it was a God-given dream. How can you tell if your own dreams are God-given? Here are five characteristics to watch for:

1. God-given dreams originate from Him
We can all let our imaginations run wild with ideas of riches, fame and luxury, but God-given dreams do not originate in our imaginations. They come from God, settle in our hearts, and grow stronger as our relationship with Him grows.

2. God-given dreams do not happen right away
God may place a dream in your heart when you’re a child that does not come to fruition until you’re in your 70’s. Joseph’s dream took years to come true. Noah’s dream of an ark took years as well. Rarely does He birth a dream in your heart and fulfill it the next day.

3. God-given dreams follow a winding path
There were many times when Joseph’s circumstances seemed to lead him farther away from his dream rather than closer to it. Two steps forward. One step back.  A few steps to the side, then a standstill. God doesn’t always move us in a linear, logical path. Only when we have the benefit of hindsight can we see how perfectly aligned our steps were.

4. God-given dreams do not waste your sufferings
When God is at work to make His dreams come true in your life, He uses even the most trying of circumstances to make you stronger and more prepared for His dreams to come true. If He seems to lead you into one disaster after another, He has a reason for doing so. It’s either to protect you from danger, teach you a lesson that you’ll need later, or give you a tool that will enhance your testimony.

5. God-given dreams give Him all the glory
God makes dreams come true for His benefit, not for yours. The dream He gave Joseph as a young boy had very little to do with him and a whole lot to do with God paving the way to save the Israelites from famine and free them from captivity generations later.

So if you have Olympic-sized dreams that are being ridiculed and trampled on, it may be that they’re not meant to be because they’re not God-given dreams. However, if they are God-given dreams, it may be that Gold is just around the corner.

Q: What Olympic-sized, God-given dreams do you have?