Dreams Deferred
What to do when God has you waiting .
“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:33-34)
Have you ever had a dream that didn’t come true? Have you ever had one that you felt God gave to you and you are still waiting for it to happen? I have had a dream since I was a child that I’m still waiting to see come to fruition and I have lived almost a half a century. I believe that it is a desire that God has put in my heart, at times it has been a burning passion and at other times just a quiet longing.
Why does God put a dream in our heart and have us WAIT?
My dream is to go on a mission’s trip. When I was little my parents were missionaries in Alaska. Then we moved to Sacramento, California and my world fell apart. I didn’t want to live in California and I purposed in my heart that when I grew up I was going to become a missionary (in a foreign land) and get even with God for moving me. I’m sure you can see that wasn’t such a great strategy!
In High School I seriously looked at going on a mission’s trip with Teen Missions but that didn’t pan out. When I was in college, I began to pursue my goal even more and it was at a Missions Retreat of all places that God confronted me with my selfish desire to become a missionary. He asked me a pretty tough question, “Kristi, will you be willing to follow me if I never allow you to be a missionary in a foreign country?” That question broke me as I realized how I was really pursuing my own passions and desires rather than God’s, even though it was cloaked in the idea that I was “serving God”. That day I let go of my desires and surrendered to God’s desires for me.
But as I’ve grown and learned what God desires for me, I have felt an increasing, genuine passion to serve God on the mission field. And as the years have passed my passion seems to be increasing rather than decreasing. Yet I still have not been able to go.
I have watched my children and friends go on missions trips. I’ve even seen my husband who doesn’t seem to have a burning desire to go, travel with a music team to the islands of St. Kitts and St. Martin. A few years ago, I came really close to being able to go and just weeks before I was to leave the trip was cancelled. Why does God put within me this burning desire and yet I am still waiting for it to come to pass?
I don’t have an answer.
Romans 11:33-34 says, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
Who am I to give the Lord advice? But this I do KNOW – God is GOOD and His plans are for my good and not to harm me, that His timing is not my timing. God is at work even in the waiting and I choose to trust Him even though I don’t understand.
Father God, You know the longings of my heart, even the dreams that are so precious I can hardly bear to say them out loud. Help me not to grow weary when the wait is long. I know that Your timing is perfect. Remind me of that when it feels like You are late. I know that You are never late and You have not forgotten me. Draw me close to You I pray. Amen.
Questions: What are you waiting for? What dreams do you have that you have not seen come true? Will you truth God even though you don’t understand?
11 Responses to “Dreams Deferred”
Leave a Reply
Start a Conversation
Media
What Do You Fear?
What do you fear, and why? Is it holding you back from realizing your full potential?
>Watch
- Contact
- |
- Advertising
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Link to Us
- |
- Media Releases
- |
- What we believe
Thank you Ladies for visiting our site and taking the time to post your comments. There is incredible community that comes as we share both the struggles and victories in our personal lives. I loved your last sentence Dalancie, ‘Thank you for sharing b/c if God never blessed me again i would still Praise His Holy Name.’ And that is so true! That’s what it is really all about, that we need to keep our eyes focused on God alone for He alone is trustworthy of our trust.
Kristi. you say you are half a century waiting for your dream to come to pass, well i am that and add ten years!! i’ve prayed and have others pray for the perfect man of God for me. i’ve been married twice and was involved with yet another man for many years. They are all very generous men yet had hidden agendas of addictions that weren’t discovered by me until years into the relationship! i’ve left them all. i’ve been alone for so long now i wonder if i will ever be able to live with a man ever again. This is a desire of my heart to actually meet the man God has for me. Thank you for sharing b/c if God never blessed me again i would still Praise His Holy Name.
Totally can relate to how you feel…but that’s where the problem is with us. We feel and desire a certain dream, which is good, but whilst we passionately pursue our dream, often time we forget to ponder on the why and for whom are we desiring it? It gives us self worth and that’s not wrong either for God wants us to know who we are and what His plans are for us eventually. I, too, have a dream that has yet to come to fulfilment. Its been years now… Some days the passion burn wildly inside my heart nothing could quench it, some days it just lie there, so still and quiet that I began to question myself if it was just another passing phase. And then I hear God’s gentle whisper “Be patient and wait on Me for I know my plans for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and life…” And so, here I am, still waiting, only this time I’m living my life filled with expectancy, God’s expectancy, not mine anymore. My days have never been more filled with peace and joy like they are now. I trust you God. Here I am, waiting for you…Amen.
I’m the one recovering from the hit and run, just found out I have a bulging disc in back – supposed to return to job soon though. I do need a miracle of God!
Yes, waiting/ unknowing is so hard… so many times people think waiting is a ‘young adult’ thing with respect to career – but reading this blog I’m reminded we all go through similar but different trials. May God help us wait, stay strong & be our Healer during this time! Thank you.
You are in mission right where you are.
Today you were a missionary in Canada to me. Each person that reads your messages is being ministered by you and you are probably touching more lives by one post here than you would in another country. I know the feeling of wanting to go somewhere and make a difference. I speak at bible camps in the summer, and it is a wonderful way to be a summer missionary, although close by. Trust God to know what it is he truly wants of you. You are a missionary EVERY DAY of your life… Whether here or abroad, the life you live in Christ is the life that ministers to those around you. Thank you for being a missionary.
Many years ago at a church I was visiting the pastor said something I’ve never forgotten; it was so impacting. He said “God takes our dreams and re-fashions them…putting in less of us and more of Him.”
I have dreams of being able to make a difference in this world.
.Our everyday life is always so busy, that 99% of the time we fail
To attend to ourselves. I know dear father with you I will mwke that
Diiference. You are great almighty
Thx for this i was heading to bed n asking myself why God is nt making his promises to come true for
me and i read this n i will like to tell GOd i will wait on him He is never
late He is the master planner of it all…thank u
Kristi, today you were a missionary to me. The words you wrote ministered to me here in Largo Fla. Am I in lees need of a minister because this field isn’t on foreign soil? You already are what you have asked God to be. Perhaps it is time to praise Him for fullfilling His call on your life?
awesome, ontime word. I am waiting on a direction. It is hard to wait. When you have created the mess. Overwhelmed. Distracted by life. Help me Lord that I do not grow weary in the race, in the wait.