Have you ever had a dream? I don’t mean the kind that befalls you as you sleep, bringing dragons or a giant ice cream, or some random stranger you’ve never met into your mind. I mean the kind that fills your heart, possibly from a young age, about your future. Maybe it’s something you’ll do with your life, like become a singer or a teacher. Maybe it’s a dream for a beautiful place you’ll visit. Whatever it is, you make plans and you hold out hope, and if you’re a Christian, you pray for your dream to come true. But when your dream is shattered, what do you do? What happens when you come to a point where it seems like you just won’t see it to fruition?
Hope does not disappoint
How long have you hoped for your dream? I’ve had a dream since I was a little girl, of owning a farm. As I got older, I was less specific about it being a farm and more about it just being land. Wide open spaces. A place for me to breathe. Eventually, it became a dream for my children to have these wide open spaces, too, a place for them to roam. My husband and I owned a landscape company at one point, and having land became our dream together, so that we might grow our company in the direction of landscape supply. After we had to close our business, and after some time, our dream didn’t fade, but changed to desiring land on which to build a public garden. We prayed and hoped, and believed that our hope was strong, and truly would not disappoint.
Ironically, we ended up moving to a rental home that sat on 104 acres. We had just been through a horrible ordeal with a terrible realtor selling our home, but could not find a house to buy. It was 2022 and the market was still crazy after the boom of 2020 through 2021. Thankfully, we found someone willing to rent to a large family, and we tried to settle in as much as we could, holding onto hope for a permanent home. Little did we realize that the opportunity to buy a portion of the land we were renting was just around the corner.
When a dream is shattered
When the opportunity presented itself, we took to prayer. We thought about all the logistics. Then we made plans. We begun negotiations with the owner of the rental. His plans for a small division were foiled not once but twice. That led to a bigger portion of the property being part of the plan. It would be expensive, but doable, so we continued forward. Our hopes were raised, and then were dashed. Then raised again. With each new issue that arose, we prayed, and we brainstormed. Every time something worked out, the next thing came along to fail.
Finally, after months of believing that we really were going to achieve our dream, we found out it wasn’t meant to be. It seemed God had a different plan for us. Our dream was shattered. It is devastating to go through something like this, only to have it flop at our feet. But how do we come back from it? How do we pick up the pieces and start anew?
Faith is the only way up
All we have is our faith. We can make plans, and we can have dreams, but in the end, none of it matters. God’s plan for our life is what we should desire. My husband and I have always wanted the desires of our hearts to conform to His will. Yes, we wanted – and still want – land. But more than that, we want God’s will. If He doesn’t want us to have land, we have to have be OK with it. Believing in His perfect will, trusting in it- that faith- is the only way up from a devastating fall such as this one.
Don’t spend too much time grieving your shattered dream. Pick yourself up, and keep moving forward. Look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Remember that you have a good God looking over you, One Who already has a plan for you in mind. It is a perfect plan, even if it doesn’t align with yours. Trust in it, and in Him.
