“I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jer. 29:11 (NLT) “You can be all you want to be…!” “The sky’s the limit!” Don’t we all love to dream? To let ourselves imagine a future for ourselves that would be a best case scenario. As believers in Christ, we may adjust what those dreams are, but for a person who is a dreamer, it is still easy to let our imaginations soar! After all, doesn’t the Bible say in I Corinthians 2:9 (NIV), “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” ?
A dreamer myself, I found I would soar with my thoughts of “what if…?” or “I hope…” and created a vast number of hopes and dreams that I were sure would be God’s will for me. They weren’t in contradiction to what I knew of the Bible’s teachings, they were honorable and worthy aspirations.
Gradually, as I was walking along in this road of life I realized they were not happening, nor was there any indication that they might happen any time soon. Thoughts of disappointment which later became seeds of defeat and feelings of failure, and subsequent deep discouragement settled in like a heavy blanket over my heart. So what happened, Lord?
Occasionally, there would be an answer to my question pertaining to a specific hope or dream, but often there was a silence. I didn’t really know the “why”, the reason that this “lofty”, virtuous aspiration seemed to be refused. It took me to one of the numerous crossroads we all face in the road of life, a time when we need to decide which route to take. In this case: do I still believe God has “plans of good and not of disaster…a future and a hope” or do I believe, “if it’s meant to be it’s up to me” (ie. I better take charge of things since it’s not turning out as I think it should)?
As believers in Christ, we need also to be “followers” of Christ. We (I) need to seek His mind and will; to follow the example Jesus gave us, that He wasn’t here on earth to do His own thing, but simply the will of the Father. Yes, it will be an adventure, because it IS true that He “…is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to HIM be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus…”! (Eph. 3:20-21 NIV italics mine)
Trust Him! Seek Him! Let Him show you, in His time what His plan is for you!
Coming next: “Be still and know….then, go”