Have you ever really wanted
something? I don’t mean really wanting a shirt or a certain pair of Lulu Lemon
pants, or even that “maybe someday I’ll …..…” kind of thing. I mean a dream
that is buried so deep inside of your being. A dream that you have hoped for,
prayed about, wept over, desired with every fibre of your heart. The kind of
dream that is so deeply woven into the fabric of your heart that the only
rationale for the dream is that it was put there by our maker. If you have,
than you know exactly what I am talking about. Your desire for that something
gets you in your gut every time. Perhaps it is the desire to be married, or to
have a child, or the desire to achieve a certain occupation. Have you ever
wanted that certain “something” so long, that eventually you have lost hope,
and as a way to protect yourself and your heart, you let that dream go? Stopped
asking God for it, stopped desiring it, because the reality of NO is much
easier to accept than unanswered possibilities, unfulfilled hope, and uncountable
tears? I have. And I know that there are others, who just like me have also
given up on their dreams and desires. I also believe that some of us haven’t
only given up on one particular dream, but have given up on dreaming all
together. Why dream when the stakes are impossible, when the only assurance in
our mind is a broken heart, disappointment, and failure. Yup, I’ve been there
too.
The Bible tells us a story about
a woman in a very similar situation in 2 Kings 4:8-37. It is the story about a
Shunammite women. If you have an opportunity you should read the story in the
Bible. The Bible doesn’t tell us her name, it only indicates that this women
had almost everything she wanted and
most likely everything that she needed. It also indicates that because of her
desire to honor and care for “the holy man of God” (vs. 9) Elisha, that she
loved and served the Lord God, and caring for God’s prophet was a tangible way to
express that love. The Bible tells us that because of her servant heart and
desire to care for the prophet, God through his servant Elisha wanted to do
something in return for her to reward her. This is where we learn that this
well to do Shunammite women had a desire buried deep inside of her heart.
““14What can be done for her?”
Elisha asked.
Gehazi
(Elisha’s servant) said, “Well, she has no son and her husband is old.”
15Then Elisha said, “Call her.”
So he called her, and she stood in the doorway.
16“About this time next year,
Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”
“No,
my Lord”, she objected. “Don’t mislead your servant, O man of God!”
17But the women became pregnant
and the next year about the same time she gave birth to
a son,
just as Elisha had told her”. (2 Kings 4:14-17).
When I read these verses of
scripture, my heart can’t help but wonder how long had this women desired,
longed for, and asked for a son, and then just settled. You see, her response
to Elisha “No, my Lord”, she objected. “Don’t mislead your servant, O man of
God!” shows that a child, a son, truly was her heart’s desire, but in
an effort to protect her heart from further damage, from unfulfilled dreams,
she had settled for good enough, and
quit dreaming, quit asking God for the true desire of her heart. And don’t you
believe that she was justified? I do. Scripture states “well, she has no son
and her husband is old” (vs. 14).
The Bible has now indicated to us that the physical probability of this women
and her husband conceiving a child together was very low for two reasons, (a)
her husband was old, and (b) for whatever reason, they had never been able to
conceive a child before. This is the Shunammite women’s impossibility. We all
see the impossibility of our dreams, don’t we? Long before we can or will ever
see the possibility, or the hope.
But now I want to tell you the
truth, share the hope that we have for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
Physically it may have been impossible for this woman to conceive a child,
mentally she may have given up on this dream, and emotionally the Shunammite
women may have closed the door on her dreams and separated herself from her
desires. HOWEVER, it did not mean
that she couldn’t have the child that she had before so desperately desired. WHY? Because there is someone who is
able to grant unto us the deep desires of our hearts even when the world tells
us they are totally impossible. WHO do
you ask? GOD!! The Bible in Luke
1:37 states “For nothing is impossible
with God”. Or another way to phrase this verse “For everything is possible with God”. This means, even when the world
tells us that our hopes and dreams are impossible, when our dreams align with God,
than anything becomes possible!
Now, I don’t want to give the
misconception that just because we will, wish or dream for something, we will
be given it. My friends, this is not always the case. In Jeremiah 29:11 God
said to us, his children “For I know
the plans I have for you…plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (NIV). God
is ONLY the giver of good and
perfect gifts (James 1:17), and what may seem perfect in our minds, may be a
shortcoming to all that God has in store for us. As God’s children, we need to
trust him, and hope not in all that we want, but simply HOPE IN God. God says in
Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and HE will give you the desires of your heart” (NIV). Sometimes when I
first read this verse, the human parts of me become excited because I think,
yes! God wants to make all my wild and crazy dreams come true. But honestly,
until we seek God’s heart, our dreams might just be feeble shells compared to
the dreams and plans that God has for our lives. Ephesians 3:20 states that God
is “able to do immeasurably more
than ALL we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work in us”.
As God’s beloved children how can we truly discover the desires of our
heart unless we seek the one who created our hearts. I believe that as we seek
God than the desires of his heart can’t help but become the desires of our
hearts. And all the things that once seemed so important begin to pale in
comparison to the reality of all that God can do in us and through us as we
begin to live in God’s reality and not our own.
I don’t know what God has in store
for my life. I have so many dreams for myself and my husband, and many of these
dreams seem quite impossible from where I am now. But, I have chosen (yes it is a choice) to restore
my hope for the dreams and deep desires of my heart. Why? Because my hope is
not in those dreams but in God himself. I refuse to limit God to the
impossibilities of my mind. I may not know all that God has in store for me and
for my husband, but I WILL stand on
God’s promise that He has not only good plans for me, but incredible plans for
me. Plans that will prosper, fill me with hope, and give me a future. I choose
to stand upon the stronghold that God can do immeasurably more in my life and the lives of my family, if I don’t
limit him to possibility and probability, and to what I see as good and
perfect. I am choosing to rest in
the fact that God’s promise to me is perfect gifts, and only perfect gifts! “For
He (God) has made ALL things beautiful
in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). My life, my unspoken dreams, my desires
are woven into my heart because they were placed there by my Father and Maker. Our
God does not lie and he is never unfaithful, it is our choice,
always has been our choice whether we will trust him…trust him with our dreams,
our hopes, and trust him with our future. I’m choosing to trust God, what are
you going to choose?
Hoping and Dreaming with you,
Your Sister in Christ,
Ashley
