To the one whose dream didn’t come true…

To the one whose dream didn’t come true.

The the one who feels a lack of purpose or sense of direction.

To the one who thought you had it all figured out and then your whole plan flew out the window…

You are not alone. I know how you feel because I’ve been that girl more times than I can count and if I can offer you any advice or piece of encouragement I would tell you to let it go. 

Having dreams and goals are a good thing but they can become a bad thing when when make it the best thing. 

God delights in giving us the desires of our hearts and wants us to reach our dreams more than we do, but they were never meant to replace Him and His presence in our lives.

When I was young I always had my dreams numbered on little sticky notes in order of importance and as I prayed over them, something just did not feel right. That’s when I heard this little voice say, “I’m the #1, I’m the dream.”

That’s when it clicked that the #1 goal and dream should be to get closer to Jesus, and realize that everything else in life He uses as a vehicle to get me there. All the other goals and dreams I have, are methods of drawing me closer to Him and strengthening our relationship.

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” -Proverbs 16:3

How incredible is it that our God can use our dreams to give us a full and happy life all for the purpose of knowing Him more and experiencing His great love for us? We just need to keep our priorities straight and not let anything become more important than Him.

“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” -Psalm 37:4

As much as you think reaching your dream is the best thing for you, God is always better than the best thing for you. Sometimes He will keep us from what we think is the best thing because He can see down the road and actually knows what the best thing for us is.

“You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” -Proverbs 19:21

He withholds no good thing from us so He will wreck our plans when He sees our plans are about to wreck us.

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” -Psalm 84:11

See, sometimes I think we get it confused and think God is hanging out on the sidelines available for our use when we need help to get our dreams, when really I think God gives us dreams to help us get closer to Him.

Again, dreams were never meant to replace God and become idols in our hearts over Him. We are supposed to receive His blessings with open hands. The problem is when we receive something we think is really cool or good for us, we close our fists and hang onto it for dear life.

This makes it that much more difficult to let go if God decides to take it away. This is the hardest thing for us humans, especially when it’s a dream or blessing we want really bad (Miss America: exhibit A) but we have to learn to stand with open hands and not cling to anything of this world. God is the best thing and only thing we need and He has the power to give us a gift and take it away.

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” – Job 1:21

Nothing we can do can change that, but we can commit to making Him the #1 thing and refuse to let anything, even our greatest hopes and dreams come before Him. Standing with open hands takes strength and faith, but it affirms your trust in His good plan for your life and assurance that He will never let you down.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” -James 1:17

He always makes a way for His perfect plan to unfold in your life and sometimes that means we don’t get what we want in the moment. He’s got you and loves you so stand with open hands and give your dreams to God.

Love always,

Nicole xx #DoStuff