Shattered Dreams

"Live isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... 

It's learning to Dance in the Rain"

Vivian Green

As a child, we often dream about our lives when we grow up.   We begin to plan out our lives.  We plan out what we want to be when we grow up (even if we change it a million times). We plan where we are going to live.  How big our house is going to be!  Little girls even plan out their weddings. Everything seems so simple through the eyes of a child.  

As we become adults, we realize we were tricked!!!  Life isn't at all what we hoped for.  We never anticipated the bumps in the road... So, our dreams begin to fade away. We don't realize, especially as nonbelievers,  that our steps were already directed by the Lord, no matter how we planned our lives out to be. (Proverbs 16:9) 

We become angry and blame God.  We become  angry at the world.   We think the world owes us something...seriously?!?! We make excuses or we just blame others for the way our lives turned out.  We are human...We lose hope.  We lose faith. However, I am here today to tell you don't...

"For I know the plans  I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

Our Heavenly Father hasn't forgotten you and I know certainly now that He hasn't forgotten me. However, we do need to take responsibility for our own lives and how they turned out.  We need to stop blaming others, even if they were the cause of our pain at one point in our lives.  We  need to learn to dance through the storms, instead of standing still and waiting for them to pass.

I can only imagine what you are saying right now.  Perhaps even yelling..."She doesn't know what I am going through."  "Who is she to tell me to just dance through these storms?!?!"  "If she only knew what I was facing, she wouldn't be saying that!"  But, I am...

Life is hard and it can throw some nasty curve balls!  Things we never expected, but we can always find peace within the storm if we really wanted too!  God has a reason for everything He does, even if we don't understand.

"There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-

A time to give birth and a time to die;

A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.

A time to kill and a time to heal;

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to weep and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn and a time to dance.

A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; 

A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

A time to search and a time to give up as lost;

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear apart and a time to sow together;

A time to be silent and a time to speak.

A time to live and a time to hate;

A time for war and a time for peace."

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 NASB

There is a season for everything we go through in life. I don't know what you are going through right now, maybe life is great, but sometimes life lets us down. Sometimes we are so hurt by the decisions we make and the people we are around that the heart we loved so deeply with shuts down and becomes scarred.  You withdraw from life and eventually you become someone you were never meant to be, without even knowing it.  Sometimes your health gets in the way of the things you want to accomplish.  Sometimes you have believed all the lies you were told and you feel like you aren't good enough and you never will be.  Some of you may have lost your job or your vehicle may have broken down.

I honestly don't know why we have to endure some of the most painful trials and I don't pretend to know.  I don't have the answers for a lot of things I see going on in this world, but it is heartbreaking.

However, what I do know is living the honest life (with eyes wide open) is a hard road, but we can't give up or give in.  You need to stop making excuses of why you can't and stop blaming others for your mistakes. You need to stop allowing your disease to control your life! Only you can change your life, so live your life and make it better.  It's time we stand on God's promises and stop believing the enemies lies!  You are more than what you thought you could be!  Bottom line is, we need to praise God through our storms.  Sometimes we need to be still, but other times we need to learn to dance like David did (2 Samuel 6:14). You have tried to fix your problems and haven't been able to, so stop and allow your Heavenly Father to move!

"To be human is to be beautifully flawed."

Eric Wilson, October Baby

Video: Glorious Unfolding by Steven Curtis Chapman