From movies to books to songs, you hear the resounding message: “Follow your dreams.” And I suppose there is some right in the saying. There’s certainly nothing wrong with working towards your goals.*
However, I believe people who feel strongly that following your dreams** is the one way to go have missed Something important. Not always, but occasionally what we want most is not what is best for us.
To a certain extent, I took on this subject in At Her Fingertips, but I’d like to expand on my ideas today. Bear with me! 😉
*Goals make dreams a reality. True story.
**Note that this post is not about dreams as in things that you think about while you’re sleeping*** but dreams as in things you think about in the day and would like to work towards.
***You shouldn’t follow these either. (Especially if they’re as weird as mine …)
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” ~Jeremiah 17:9
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” ~Romans 3:23
We don’t like to admit it, but with our sin nature, we’re pretty awful folks! It’s clear that, left to our own devices, we wouldn’t achieve anything great, really.
If fact, anything good we do comes through God.
Yes, yes, don’t “follow your heart” or even “follow your head,” follow God! We’ve seen the graphic!
I know, I’ve been pretty blatant about that one theme. 😛
But dreams aren’t your thoughts or feelings!
But … they are, kinda.
Or they can be, at least.
I’m not saying this is true of you, but it’s quite possible that your dreams are just as “desperately wicked” as your heart!
But it’s not like God plans our lives for us … who are we supposed to lean on for those big decisions?
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” ~Jeremiah 29:11-13
“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” ~Psalm 127:1-2
God has a plan for your life! From before time began, He was making plans. Plans for what your talents will be and how you could use them to glorify Him. Plans for what your family and friends and husband and children would be like.
God has it all figured out! And no, He’s not going to force you to follow His dreams for you … but wouldn’t you like to?
How can I tell what God’s plans for me are? Will God speak to me?
Yes. Yes He will. 🙂 Never doubt it for a moment!
The only real way to find out what God plans are for you is to listen to Him.
I’m called to mind the lyrics from Casting Crown’s Dream for You.
So come on, let Me dream, let Me dream for you
I am strong when you’re weak and I’ll carry you
So let go of your plan, be caught by My hand
I’ll show you what I can do
When I dream for you
I have a dream for you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8nsJZx8eWw
Towards the end, there’s a bridge that goes:
I’m stronger than you think I Am
I’ll take you farther than you think you can
You sing and call me Great I Am
So take your stand
My child, if you only knew
All the plans that I have for you
Just trust me, I will follow through
You can follow Me
Follow God – not your dreams! He has an incredible life planned out for you. So don’t worry … He’s not going to let you down. His dreams for you are infinitely better than those you have mapped out for yourself.
So … are all my dreams invalid?
No! Of course not!
Sometimes God gives us dreams. Dreams to be writers or artists or missionaries or parents. And through those dreams, you will serve Him in the best way you could. He gives us the passion we need to follow His dreams for us.
As long as you are seek God in your life, you are going to be all right. With Him, your dreams can and will be be a reality.
Dreams without God inevitably fail. With Him?
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” ~Matthew 6:33
God honestly probably has something bigger and better planned for you than you can even imagine. If you ask, He will give you the guidance and passion for that dream! He may even have already.
So trust Him and follow Him. He will define your dreams.
Before you go, I just want to say … kellynroth.blog will be launched towards the beginning of June! I’m still working on putting everything together (and the blog is nowhere near finished! Sooo much work to do!), but trust me … it’s going to be AMAZING.
TTFN!
~Kellyn Roth~
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p.s.
What do you think? Does God care about our dreams … and does He make plans for us? What do you think if God’s plan for your life? Are there any dreams you believe are from Him?
(Just so you know, At Her Fingertips is more about the logistics of giving up your plans to God while Beyond Her Calling is about God’s dreams being infinitely bigger than your own. Cool, huh?)
13 Responses
That’s so cool Kellyn. I really like that you went forward and actually wrote about this. Because some people put so much stock in their “dreams” and although there’s nothing wrong with working toward something, you need to seek God in what He has planned for you.
Don’t make your dreams your idol basically. 😀
*high five*
Yes, exactly! No idolized dreams … only godly ones! 😀
Yes! This! *hugs post* Thank you for putting this into words.
Thank you, Rebekah! So glad you agree! 😀
This was a great post and a great reminder for me to focus on God first, instead of the dream itself. 🙂
Thanks, Chloe! So glad it was helpful! 🙂
This is so true and cool!!! I agree!!! 💕😀💖
Thank you, Hope! 😀
I love this post, Kell! It goes so much against the grain of culture, but I don’t think you say it just to challenge the norm – there’s truth to it. Inherently, there’s nothing praiseworthy about our hearts, “follow your dreams” and “follow your heart” are kind of used interchangeably).
The fact that dreams can be good – in part or in whole – leads me to ask what that tells us about God’s influence on our dreams. I think it’s a beautiful thing that He created us to have hopes and aspirations. And, like you said, sometimes He uses our dreams. Or other times He works in our hearts to perfect our dreams. Life with Him is full of beautiful moments. I’ve been dreaming a bit lately myself. Have you?
Right, exactly! Nothing good in there, so of course our dreams won’t necessarily be praiseworthy!
YES, He definitely created some dreams in us … I think it’s always important to watch for that. 🙂 I think I’m almost always dreaming, though I don’t know if they’re always worthy or praise or not.
Oops, I thought I had responded to this. Well, I’ve since thought of how better to articulate what I wanted to say anyway, so I suppose it’s not a bad thing. 😉 I was just going to say that I don’t think we need to berate ourselves for having lots of dreams that aren’t exactly praiseworthy. Rather, I just think that, as the Lord grants us grace to do so, we get to ask Him for wisdom regarding how to proceed and in what venues. (Did I really not send this message? I’m having déja vu!)
Huh, that’s weird! I hope it didn’t get blocked by spam or something weird like that … still working out a lot of bugs, so things like that may happen. I don’t know. 😉
Yes, of course! I agree with that. I think God gives us a lot of dreams – the danger is in not listening to Him before we follow them, I suppose!