There is a lot we can do to work toward fulfilling our dreams for life, but there is no guarantee we will get what we want. Sometimes that’s a very good thing.
When I was a young teenager, I fell in love with a boy in our youth group. I dreamed about him day and night. I was sure he was “the one.” However, he never took notice of me.
Over the next several years, I fell in love with other boys, each of whom I believed to be “the one.”As each one faded into the background, I realized how off the mark I was. There were things about each one of them that would have made it impossible for me to be myself and to develop the talents the Lord had given to me.
Like many women (old and young alike), I had the habit of molding myself into what I thought the boy (man) would like, rather than what my Heavenly Father had created in me. I made these boys into gods. That’s idolatry, and it never benefits anyone.
Finally, I reached a point where I had to face reality: I wasn’t at all good at identifying the man of my dreams. Maybe he didn’t even exist. And I decided to turn my dreams over to the Lord. Here was my prayer:
Lord, I give You all my dreams. I place all my hope in Your Goodness. I will stay where I am. I will wait for You. I will follow where You lead. I will live my life for Your glory. You are my Rock and my Salvation. Whether or not my longing is fulfilled, I will rejoice in You.
A prayer like that requires total surrender. Not knowing the outcome is one of the hardest challenges we face because it makes us feel out of control. The funny thing is that we were never in control in the first place. We only think we were.
Being out of control means letting God take charge. As our Creator, He knows us better than we know ourselves. It’s not that we give up working toward our goals, but that we let the outcome be His to decide. It means we can trust Him completely with everything we have and everything we are as His beloved children. What can be more glorious than that?
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every familyt in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who 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 glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. ~Ephesians 3:14-21
Dr. Smith’s Contact Info:
OC Christian Counseling
800.705.6223, ext. 101