When Dreams Don’t Come True
by Marilyn J. Ehle
Talk to one of our caring mentors about the dreams in your life. http://christianwomentoday.com/chat/askus.html
Trust God from the bottom of your heart… (Proverbs 3:5a, The Message)
“I thought marriage would be…”
“My children aren’t what I’d hoped…”
“I didn’t get an education…”
“My husband/wife left…”
“I thought I would be healthy…”
“My child died…”
Contrary to popular songs, dreams don’t always come true. Perhaps we need to listen less to the music and more to what one man said, “If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up”!
While watching a documentary recently on the life of Henri Nouwen, I was struck by how willing he was to make lifelong mid-course corrections as he listened to the whispers of God. He left the safety of the monastery for the demanding halls of Harvard. He lived with the distressingly poor in Latin America and the profoundly disabled in Canada.
We have only hints of all his dreams when he first chose to follow God, but biographers make it clear that when many of his dreams did not come true, he clung persistently to the same calling we all have: “Trust God from the bottom of your heart.”
Trusting that God is sovereign, that He cares and—most importantly—that He loves, is most difficult when our dreams crumble. Trusting is always a risk, but when our trust is placed in the God of eternity, we can count on His character to be what He has promised to be. While walking in the fog of disappointment, often with breaking hearts, if we choose to trust the one who loves us completely, we will find Him able to refashion our dreams so that they are mirror images of His own.
It’s hard to trust you, Lord, when my world comes crashing down, and yet I ask the same from my children when I allow doctors and nurses to pierce their tender skin with lifegiving medications. Help me see your hand in the fog, leading me closer to you.
Questions: Record in a journal some of your dreams which have not come true. How have you seen God work in the midst of those situations? What have you learned about God?
About the Author: http://thelife.com/experience/devotionalforwomen/authors/marilyn-ehle/
14 Responses to “When Dreams Don’t Come True”
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Amen, Sharonb! In fact, I think God draws us closer to Him during those very times when our ‘dreams’ become disappointments, as He knows the longings of our hearts and desires to bless us. But, sometimes, our dreams are not aligned with His perfect plan for us, and He says, “No” or “Not at this time.” I have learned that when we seek more of God and His kingdom, He transforms our desires, and His ‘dreams’ become ours! He shows us what true wealth is — sweet fellowship with Him! The things of this world will never satisfy, but He is a living wellspring, offering peace, joy and hope that produce contentment, which is worth dreaming for!!
I HAVE HAD LOTS OF DREAMS THAT DID NOT TURN OUT THEY WAY I WANTED OR THOUGHT THEY WOULD BUT GOD HAS BEEN WITH ME THROUGH IT ALL
SHARONB
i think the kind of dreams or wishes we have varies according to the stage of our life. when my children were younger, i always dreamed of giving them the best education, sending them to the best schools up to college. it’s a dream come true. with the good education they obtained, graduating from the best university in our country, they have been very grateful to me, saying they would not be where they are now if not for that. i also dreamed of living in a townhouse or condo, not some bungalow in places quite far from the city. i do live in a condo. i dreamt of putting up my own company. seven years ago, i put up my own company with a partner and today, it has made a name in the market. i also dreamt of traveling. i have been traveling and have seen many places around the country and abroad. i believed i achieved my dreams because i never gave up dreaming and because i had faith that God will make my dreams come true. i am reminded of the movie “the never-ending story”. the character sebastian was speaking to another character: “you must not stop dreaming; if you stop dreaming, fantasia will die”. fantasia is an imaginary kingdom. if the character involved stops thinking about fantasia, it will disappear. so the bottomline is to keep on dreaming about the kingdom. lesson: we must hold on to our dreams and hold tight to the thought that God will be with us as we walk towards our dreams.
i’ve been recieving my devotions a day after, almost every day. can i please have them right the day
I enjoyed the devotion today and reading each comment I see that each of us have so many stories to share,Today my sister and I took our monthly shopping trip to SAMS to buy grocerys, and since school was out my 7 year old daughter went with us (could’t leave her home with her older brothers someone would be tied up before I got home! HA!) eveyone knows the cost of food has went up so I was trying really hard to “budget” and everyone knows when you have a seven year old with you that can be hard to do….my daughter kept tugging at my sleave today and finally I said “What is it?” she had found a collection series of Shirley Temple DVD’s and the movie Heidi was one of them included, I love the older movies and when I mention them my kids usally roll their eyes and say “Mom that movie is sooooo old but nine times out of ten love it after they watch it, (can anyone say genration gap? ha!) any way my daughter seems to be fasanated with SHIRLEY Temple now and watching the movie HEIDI brought back so many memories of childhood I loved the book and I can remember as a child in that time of my life I had so many big dreams:…Finding Mr. Right, Getting married, having the perfect home with perfect children being the perfect Mom and we live happyly everafter….somedays what I would give to go back to being that little girl reading Heidi and dreaming of how my life would be..in reality many of those dreams were lost in bad choices, and long work days with small pay checks, but so many of them have come to pass and arn’t compleatly lost, with all that being said God has always been in the middle of my dreams he has walked through me with the broken ones and held my hand he has celabrated with me in the ones that have come true and he leads me in the ones that I have yet to reach….Ladies the point being he is there and everyday with each passing dream weather it be a broken one forgotten one that has taken me years to reach he has always been there with me!!
Susan please realize that it is never better or easier if a child dies. No mother gives birth to a child and expects to bury them. I am praying in Jesus name that he quietens your painful heart with is true everlasting unconditional love. Look to him for strength because you will not find any peace or comfort anywhere else. Linda I know holidays are painful and I bless you in Jesus name with peace and God’s grace. You are indeed a strong woman of God full of love and compassion and that it evidenced today by your kind words to Susan.
Susan Hollingsworth I am so very sorry for the pain and suffering you have had too and still are going through because of being in a serious car accident when you were 18. Please don’t think for a moment that I take or ever took Lee-Anna’s death lightly. I still to this day mourn for her, I deal with depression and chronic pain which both are partly due to her death. I cannot celebrate mother’s day like other people do, Lee-Anna’s Birthday was Dec 21st, so Christmas is never the same, August is a complete write-off. Our anniversary is 6 days after her death so forget that too. I am human I get depressed, I miss her. Yes I know it was her time to go, I know God Never, Ever Makes a mistake, I know Lee-Anna wouldn’t come back to earth if she was allowed to, she is much too happy where she is. But all I was trying to say was I had a dream and that dream was destroyed but I feel God in His graciousness did allow me to see good come out of that tragedy and has also allowed me to be used to encourage others who unfortunately go through the same experience.
Dear Heavenly Father I just Pray for Susan right now, Dear Lord You see her, You see the limitations she has, the times of discouragement she has and Lord I just pray right now that You would wrap Your loving Arms ever so tightly around her that she will feel Your presence and Your love so very close to her.Just flood her with encouragement, joy, peace, love and calmness all through her body Help me to remember each day to hold her up in pray and just use her Lord for Your Glory I pray! Amen! Susan I will write your name on my prayer list and pray for you every day ok? Hugs, Linda
My entire life seems to be a good example of dreams not coming true. When I was 18, I too was involved in a serious car accident, resulting in brain stem injury. Sometimes I feel grateful to the Lord because in spite of, or maybe because of my suffering and hardship, I believe my life has had more meaning for me and for others I have come in contact with. Other times I fail to see or appreciate that I have life at all, so it could be a blessing in disguise that your daughter died.
Kris I too just Pray that the Lord will give you peace regarding your daughter and dear Lord I just pray that you will have your hand on her watch over her protect her and mover her heart to contact her mom to let her know where she is and how she is doing I just commit this to you in Faith Believing Amen!
I guess I would have to say for me one of my biggest dreams that has not come true but God has worked in the midst of it in spite of the whole terrible situation would be waiting to see my daughter walk down the isle getting married and then becoming a mom. That was never to be as the Lee-Anna was killed in a car accident when she was 15 3/4 months old on a sunny Sunday afternoon in August. I was devastated as Lee-Anna and I were very close as her dad my first husband had died when Lee-Anna was only 10 months old so it was just her and I for four years until I remarried a wonderful Christian man. After Lee-Anna was gone one day I asked God if & when my two sons got married could He please give me extra special daughter-in-laws seeing He had taken away my one an only daughter I had. Well God is so Good! My son Jamin got married in 2000 to a Wonderful Christian girl named Jenny who had an Identical Twin sister Sheila and I mean Identical in every way. I not only got the worlds most wonderful loving, sweetest, caring, daughter-in-law but I got her twin sister and husband and family two. The Lord doubly blessed me, like I said at their wedding I got two for the price of one. Sheila & her family also call us mom & dad and grama and Pappie. The Lord is so Good and I still have another son Aaron who isn’t married so I will get another wonderful daughter-in-law one day for sure. I just want to thank the Lord for his Faithfulness & Goodness to me over all my ups and downs through life. He has always been there for me even when I might have thought he wasn’t he was still there right beside me. Hugs Linda!!!
I had the privilege of meeting Henri Nouwen at his Daybreak facility in Toronto many years ago. I had been a relatively new believer, and the Lord led me to his book, The Road To Daybreak (I had never heard of him before.) He wrote this beautiful, moving account of his transition from the great halls of academia (Universities of Harvard and Yale) to the ministry of L’Arche at Daybreak. The book chronicles his experiences in diary form, where he shares the life-transforming work of the Holy Spirit in his heart, as he cared for the physically and mentally disabled residents there. I was so inspired by his humble authenticity, having forfeited the esteem of his colleagues at such prestigious universities to serve the less fortunate in a role that would afford him lesser recognition and honor. I wrote to him at Daybreak, thanking him for his vibrant witness and servant heart, and asked if I might visit him at Daybreak. He was most gracious, and my daughter and I stopped there on our next trip to Toronto, Ont. Henri was such an amazing man, so gentle, humble and kind. His testimony of God’s revelation to him, and his calling to trust God on an unchartered path were true faith-builders for him, and for those of us who have heard his story!
Kris,
I like that too, what Beth Moore is saying. It is so true not to trust your feelings or what you see around you but to lean on the Word of God and His faithfulness to His Word and His children. I was reading another devotional today that said as His Ambassadors we have been given the power to represent Him to others in love and giving of ourselves which is what an ambassador is supposed to do for the one he represents.
And yes, Loreli does have such a beautiful name. Everytime I see it, I think of how beautiful it sounds. The name definitely fits the person as Loreli has such a caring heart for others.
In Christ,
Debra
Thank you Loreli. God is indeed faithful. I appreciate your prayers. I need to remember what I often quote to other people from Beth Moore: “Im not moved by what I see, I’m not moved by what I feel, I’m only moved by what I believe and I’m believing God.” Thanks again Loreli(what a beautiful name.
Kris, the wonderful thing about God is that he can be right where you are and right where your daughter is at the same time. I am praying today for your daughter to have eyes to see and ears to hear the spirit of God and that she comes to know him as savior and friend if she does not already know him. God is Faithful. Today I ask Lord for direction and stregnth to do everyday things.
Truly, how difficult it is to sometimes simply trust. Sometimes we trust Him with our life but hang on ever so tightly to our burdeons and baggage instead of letting Him carry those as well. Father, I give you my 25 year old daughter who is out there somewhere: in you arms.