Sometimes my dreams and desires are butterflies inside my chest, fluttering colors of hope and joyful anticipation. Other times they are a lead weight, an ache that accompanies me everywhere. Holding onto dreams can be painful, but the only alternative to hoping is giving up, and that is more painful.
I desired, for the longest time, to get married. By God’s grace that dream came true for me (a story for another day). Some of us yearn to have children, or more children, or grandchildren. We want to be healed, closer to our families, have our loved ones come home to Christ. We have big dreams of influencing people for their good and God’s glory. These dreams are in line with God’s kingdom ways and are not sinful or evil.
We hear of other people’s dreams coming true now and then, and we celebrate with them, but it also reminds us of our own unfulfilled dreams and that can be hard.
Hannah’s Dream
Hannah dreamed of having a child (1 Samuel 1). For years she held onto her dream, though it did not come to pass. Year after year Peninnah provoked Hannah until she would weep and not eat.
One year Hannah poured out her soul to the Lord and made a vow to him. In great anguish and grief, she prayed once again for a son. She must have been praying intensely for Eli to think she was drunk. God granted the cry of Hannah’s heart and her dream came true. She fulfilled her vow to God, and her son, Samuel, grew up to be a notable prophet.
We don’t know the outcome of our own dreams, but let us follow Hannah’s example and bring our desires, dreams, hopes, and longings before God. And let us keep bringing them to him, for he invites us to be audacious in our requests (Luke 11:5-10).
Praying for Dreams to Come True
As we wait for our dreams to come true, here are some things we can pray:
Thank you, God, for this dream and the privilege of seeing it before it becomes a reality. Thank you for helping me carry it when it feels heavy.
Help me to pray for the realization of this dream. Show me what to pray.
Please make me into the kind of person who can steward the reality of this dream with humility and grace.
Please line up all the things that need to happen for this dream to come true. Thank you for always working in the background to bring all things together for our good and your glory. You are God over every detail.
Please expose the work of the enemy and bring it to nothing (considering that the enemy wants to destroy this dream, and destroy our hope in God.)
I trust you, God. I trust your judgement, your timing, that you are good, and that you want the best for me and everyone else involved. If I don’t fully trust that yet: please help me to trust you in these ways.
Please help me not to make an idol of this dream. Help me to keep it in its proper place in my heart, with my love and loyalty to you always coming first. Please keep me from becoming bitter and cynical as time goes on, but help me to keep trusting you.
Please help me to live fully in the present, not wishing it away in favor of the future fulfillment of this dream. Help me to see what you are doing in and around me right now and to join in with that.
If this dream is not to be fulfilled, please give me peace. Help me to submit it to your will, just as Jesus did with his desires in the Garden of Gethsemane. He brought them before you, and then laid them down of his own accord and went willingly to the cross.
Reminders as We Hold onto Our Dreams
Dreams and desires are like butterflies in our hands. We cannot hold onto them too tightly or we will crush them. But if we hold them with open hands, at the right time, God will breathe the breath of his Spirit and they may launch and fly.
Remember that no dreams coming true will ever bring ultimate satisfaction. Only God can fully satisfy us. Though we hope our dreams will become reality, we do not put our hope IN the dreams. We anchor our hope – our eternal hope – in Christ Jesus. He will be enough even if our dreams do not come to pass.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” – Romans 15:13.
PS, I hope you have big dreams! If you can’t think of any dreams or if your dreams are too small, ask God to remind you of dormant dreams or give you a new dream!
Read Also:
Waiting Well: It’s Not About Us
So You’re Not Where You Wanted to Be
I appreciate this poem, Dormant Dreams, by Jackie M. Johnson (Scroll down on the page.)
