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Dreams

Dreams for the Good Life

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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”  
Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT

GoodLife_SignI was sitting around with a group of friends, talking about our lives and how we’d gotten to where we were when one friend declared, “This is definitely not what I had in mind when I made my big plans to live the ‘good life’!”

Many of us develop big dreams of what we’d like our lives to be in the future.

But how often do we look back on those great dreams and have to admit, that for whatever reason, they’d never come true? I mean, when was the last time you looked at your life and said, “I’m doing exactly everything that I’ve ever hoped, wished for, and dreamed of doing”? If you’re like me, the answer is…never!

Generally, we can stand to relinquish some dreams without much regret. But what do we do about those unrealized dreams for which we simply have a very difficult time letting go? Maybe we missed out on having a spouse, child, or children. Maybe we longed for but never received a certain education, career, retirement, house, or car. Maybe we lost a marriage, friends, or family member too soon to bring closure to the relationship. Perhaps, we even think that we found out about God’s love and grace too late in life to really do something useful about it. Have we simply missed out on our opportunity for the ‘good life’? Has God let us down by refusing to honor our dreams? Read today’s Dose verse.

Often, our ‘big plans’ don’t take into consideration God’s will for our lives. We envision what we’d like due to our own interests, passions, and knowledge. We don’t realize or we forget that, our knowledge is limited and our truth is not God’s truth. When our plans aren’t realized, we don’t understand and we can become discontented. But take heart, my friend, God has not abandoned you or allowed you to miss out. He has the ultimate good life planned just for you!

The Lord will lead us on the correct route in life so long as we place our trust in him instead of ourselves. Placing God as number one means readjusting our will and life to his. Then, our dreams will move in line with His plans for our life. Yielding to his leadership is often a humbling experience but it’s our one and only shot to have a truly ‘good life’. Don’t you want that promise over anything that we can dream up? It’s not too late. Why won’t you trust Him today?

 

 By grace through faith,

Rita

Trusting God in Tough Times: When We Don’t Understand God’s Plan

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It’s inevitable. Tough times will come along during our lives. A pastor friend once told me something along these lines: “You’re either coming out of a time of struggle, in the midst of a difficult time, or heading toward a challenging time.” The Christian life (or any life) is not always a bed of roses—and the Bible doesn’t promise us a life free from trouble. This week, let’s take a Scriptural look at trusting God through difficult circumstances.

 

When We Don’t Understand God’s Plan

“Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.” 

2 Samuel 7:28, NIV

Maze_THURSDAYYou’ve just lost your job. You want to have a baby, but it’s not happening and you can’t understand why. A loved one has been diagnosed with cancer. Your marriage is falling apart in spite of your best efforts. Whatever your particular situation, your dreams are crushed and it hurts.

How can this be God’s plan for your life? Sometimes our dreams don’t come to fruition and our best laid plans fall apart.

When things don’t go according to my plans, I’m tempted to assume God has forgotten about me. Maybe the details of my life just aren’t important to the God of the universe. Can I trust Him? In the midst of my pain, I tend to blame God instead of trusting Him.

Even though we sometimes feel forgotten, God is present. He doesn’t overlook His promises to us. He delights in us and wants the best for us.

I love how Corrie ten Boom explained God’s plan. She said, “Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.” (The Hiding Place). This is an especially powerful testimony since Corrie ten Boom spent almost a year suffering in three different prisons, including a concentration camp in Germany, after she and her family helped Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. Ultimately, Corrie ten Boom was released (due to a technical error) and spent the next 40 years speaking and writing about God’s love and the power of forgiveness.

God is faithful, and He is able to use every circumstance to draw us closer to Him. Even if we can’t see how the pieces will fit together, God is weaving a beautiful story in our lives. He loves us more than we can imagine. In that infinite love, he created a plan for each of us. We can trust that God will show up. Believe anything is possible with God. He is trustworthy.

Dear Lord, we put ourselves and our futures in your hands. We believe you will do a powerful work with and through our lives. We submit our plans to you. Line up our plans with Your plans. God, Your plans are greater and Your ways higher.

Learning to trust more fully,

Allison