No matter how organized or planned you are, eventually life can derail your plans. Sometimes those hard times bring you to a place where you realize your dreams won’t and can’t come true. The marriage isn’t what you thought it would be. The highchair is never going to get used. The business fell through. A new diagnosis has altered your life. There are dreams you’ve poured a lot of blood, sweat and tears into, but you find yourself in a place where it’s time to head a new direction. 

So what do you do when your dreams die?

In that moment we might look at God and say, At some level I thought you promised me this. Or even, God you owe me because I’ve done everything I thought you told me to do. 

Guess what: In a sin-infested world there is no promise that the next season of our life will be our best season. It might be the season where our dreams die. It’s even harder when we see others around us being wildly successful. 

Let’s look at the life of David. Throughout his life he made some poor decisions, some because of the stressful situations he was placed in and others because he found himself in a position of power where no one could say no to him. Every one of those decisions brought consequences and lessons. Pain, no matter how much we want to avoid it, brings important life lessons. 

When David attempted to take matters in his own hands, such as covering up the rape of Bathsheba, matters only got worse. When David submitted himself to God, such as when he realized how seriously he has abused his power, God saw him through the hard times. The brokenness and repentance brought him closer to God to the point that it was said of him — a rapist and a murderer — that he was a man after God’s own heart. 

Consequences turned David’s life upside down, and he realized that his dreams were not going to come true. His own sin played out in the lives of his children and brought grief and pain. His life was not void of pain, either self-inflicted or circumstantial. Every time it was brought to his attention that he was off the rails, David repented and sought after God. When David trusted God for the future, it gave him the strength to overcome his past and walk through the hard times. The book of Psalms is filled with his angst, his praise and his love for a God who continually forgives and restores. 

No matter how difficult life is, remember, God is there for you. He will weep with you, carry you through it and be your refuge every step of the way. God never promised life would be easy; He only promised you would never be alone.