Having hopes and dreams for how you want your life to be life to be like is healthy and natural. They are the framework for what we pursue in life and who we want to become. They start as a child and continue throughout our lives. These dreams steer our education, career paths, pursuit of a love interest or the possibility of children. You do all that you can to control the progression of your life in order to make it what you envisioned. Nevertheless, despite your best efforts, sometimes reality and your dreams do not match. The incongruence of what you want your life to be and what it is brings you emotional heartache, and grief for what has either been lost or never obtained. Grief, while perhaps might be appropriate for some losses, is not where you should be planted
A few years ago, I had to be willing to embrace a new vision for my life, to go to grad school to eventually become a counselor, which meant letting go of another expectation for my life. I have been amazed at how this career shift is something that I am wired for and am very passionate about.
Other times, a new dream simply means blooming where you are currently planted. Choosing to have joy no matter what life is giving you is a choice. A hard choice. I firmly believe that each day is a gift from God. How I live this day is my gift back to Him. Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!”
Life is not easy, and it is downright unfair. I have learned though, to stop waiting for my expectations for my life to come to pass, and instead make the most of the moment and embrace new visions for my life. Trusting God through it all has been key to me in this process. As God stated to Israel in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans that I have for you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
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