When I was a kid, I wanted to play in the NFL. I was in awe when I watched Bo Jackson break records and reruns of Joe Montana completing impossible passes. Those players and many more fueled my wild-eyed NFL dream of scoring touchdowns on Sunday afternoons. However, by my senior year of high school, reality set in. My football career peaked with no college football scholarship offers. I had to accept that the NFL was no longer in my future.
While that realization stung and closed one door, others began to open slowly. Isn’t that how life often goes? One dream doesn’t materialize as expected, and then we are led down surprisingly new paths we may have never picked for ourselves.
Sometimes, though, our dreams come true, quickly paving the way for other desires to experience. That same senior year, our football team won the 5A state championship title, a dream coveted by every high school football player. Yet, while that experience was amazing, it barely had time to settle before new aspirations began to take root. It was a reminder that life rarely follows a straight line. Even realized dreams bring change, planting seeds for new hopes and plans.
So, what are we to make of life’s twists and turns?
Life can frequently feel like a paradox: one moment, we have a dream, and then the setbacks come. Another moment, we accomplish a dream and then realize something else has taken its place. Amidst all this, Scripture reminds us that God is still at work. It may not be easy to see at the moment, yet when we look back, we realize the blessing of God’s hand guiding and directing us to better opportunities and outcomes that glorify Him and ultimately benefit us. He is good and loving and deeply involved in every transition we face. Scripture teaches us that He is working out all things for the good of His people. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” What seems like a chaos of contradictions is part of God’s crafting a most exquisite mosaic from the fragments of our plans–realized or not.
Take a moment to reflect: which of your dreams have faded in the face of reality? What new dreams are arising after others have been realized? Write down one dream that faded into memory and one that is still on the horizon. As you do that, express gratitude for God’s guidance in both. Remember that God is sovereign, and He is good. This means that God will redeem what He allows and never waste your pain. Proverbs says, “A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure” Proverbs 16:9 (AMPC).
Where do we see this ultimately expressed?
In the gospel of Jesus Christ, we see God’s plan unfold in what seemed like the most apparent defeat. How could Jesus Christ’s dying on the cross fulfill God’s plan? To Christ’s disciples, it seemed like a dream was being shattered. Yet, through this plan, our ultimate dream can be realized: eternal reconciliation with God. Similarly, every one of our unrealized and realized dreams finds its ultimate answer in Jesus Christ–He alone can satisfy our most significant need.
And so, in the midst of uncertainty, embrace the journey, knowing that God’s plan for you is good and that seeming contradictions are part of God’s incredible lessons in learning to trust and glorify Him. He will redeem what He allows.
God, help us to trust You in every step, turn, and changing dream. Help us remember that you have secured our most real dream through Christ’s cross and resurrection: eternity with You through Christ. Amen.
— March 13, 2025