Question:

You had a dream.  For years, you had cherished it in your heart, reliving your hopes, joy, and expectations over and over.  Now your dream is gone.  Dead.  Never to be realized.

Life is so cruel!  Tragedy has turned your life upside down, and your heart feels like it’s been broken into a thousand pieces. You want to cry, but you’re afraid to let go.  Afraid you won’t be able to stop.

This test has shaken your faith to the core, and your mind is bombarded with questions: Where is God in all this?  What happened to His promises?  How can He possibly bring good out of this?

You know you’re in danger of becoming angry with God, and you need to apply His Word to your situation.  But in the midst of such pain, how can you?

Answer:

Wendy has posed a scenario that we can all experience in our Christian walk.  What do we do when “the dream” dies?

Emotional pain can be crippling.  It leads to incorrect and destructive thinking.

We say to our self, “God abandoned me.  He betrayed me.  I thought He loved me.”
These are the thoughts that we dare not articulate, yet if we are honest with our self, that is what drives our hurt and anger.  Why won’t God give me what I want?  Didn’t God promise to bless me?  How is this a blessing?  Where are You?!!!!!!

Honestly, the answer is a tough one…it reveals our heart.

God says in Ex. 20:3 and Deut. 5:7 that we should have no other gods before Him.  He speaks of images we should not bow down to.  What we forget is that the god we most often bow down to is our self, our wants, our desires, our dreams.  Did we ever ask Him if all our expectations were in His will?  Even Jesus said to His Father, “not My will but Yours be done.”

Once we truly realize that we should live His plan and not our own, the issue becomes, how do we accept His will and eventually embrace it?

Our only hope is to turn to Him and search His word.  He is not our enemy; He is our hope.

Talk to him as your Lord and as your friend.  Remember He loves you. Tell Him how you feel.  Read the Psalms out loud.  Realize that He may not change your situation but He will change you to be more like Him.  Let the Holy Spirit comfort you and heal you.  Pray with the expectation of seeing the beauty that is found only when His will is being lived out in your life.  Surrender to Him.

It will take time, but hold tightly to your Redeemer.  Give thanks for His work on the cross that freed you from sin so that you can live a victorious life.

If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord, read “How Can I Know God”.

For more encouragement, check out our free Hope Devotional.

Be encouraged my friend,
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Ann Varwig