Shattered Dreams

When things around you have fallen apart and your dreams have been shattered by circumstances, I want to encourage you to not give up. I know, it’s not easy. But hold on. 

I am getting ready to go to my 50th high school reunion soon. As I was reflecting on my high school days, many things stood out. But there is one in particular that I want to share with you. My senior year the guidance counselor and I were filling out my schedule. We had it all down to one class period still open. I had enough credits that we talked about maybe being a Teacher’s Aide for that class period rather than taking another class. She suggested the elementary school as they always needed aides. I babysat a lot and enjoyed children, so I thought, why not?

I stepped into that Kindergarten classroom that first day and immediately knew in my heart that this is what I was supposed to do with my life. Up to that point, I thought I was going to be a lawyer. I enjoyed Speech and Debate competitions plus my dad said I always liked to argue. But stepping into that classroom any interest in becoming a lawyer disappeared. I knew I was meant to be a teacher. And that is what I became, and I loved it.

 My seventh year of teaching was a tough one. Our school had gone through some tumultuous times and the new principal didn’t know me very well. Our oldest daughter had just been diagnosed with a severe to profound hearing loss, my husband was traveling all over the state for his job so I was a young mom with two young children on my own most of the week, teaching full time…lots of stress. Ever notice how stress is often associated with difficult times? Anyway, I had a parent tell me I was a terrible teacher and that she didn’t know how I had ever gotten a teaching certificate. The new principal didn’t back me up. I was in the middle of a hurricane of emotions in my work life, personal life, and as a parent. Though I leaned on God to get me through, I laid down my dream of teaching. I just couldn’t handle fighting on every single front in my life.

God was faithful and we made it through that very tough time in our life. Time went on. Long story short, several years later we moved to another state. I had been working in an office and sought work along that line. I hit roadblock after roadblock. I finally applied to work for what was essentially a temp agency for daycares and preschools. I wasn’t looking to get back into education, just looking for a job to help make ends meet. A month later I was asked to substitute for a preschool teacher at a small parent cooperative in town. I didn’t want to do it and resisted it but my supervisor finally talked me into it, mostly because she didn’t have anyone else qualified. I pretty much did it to help her out. But once again, when I walked into that preschool and worked with the children that day I knew that this is what I was called to do. God restored my dream that I really was designed to be a teacher. This is what He built me for. I substituted three months for that teacher who was on maternity leave and in that time, God restored the dream inside of me that I thought was completely and forever dead. Now, even when tough times came, I knew what He had put inside me and could rely on Him more completely in that area.

Now your dream may not be about your job, your profession. It may be a dream to become a parent, a dream to create something, restore a relationship, maybe even just the dream that you are more than a piece of junk. That one was restored to me also, but that is a story for another day. What I want you to know is that if there is a dream deep inside your heart it was most likely put there by God. And God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). 

Jeremiah 29:11 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible: “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (New Living Translation). God has a plan for you. If it looks like you are in the middle of a disaster right now, hang on. God’s not done. I am now in my 26th year of teaching and loving it. God took my dream that had been stomped on, kicked at, and drug through the ringer. I thought it was dead. But God is in the resurrection business! It may take time. There was a ten-year gap between the time I gave up teaching until God restored it to me. But the point is, He restored it. 

I have other areas in my life where God restored things that I thought were long gone and never to be seen again. But this is the one I wanted to show you today. Never give up. There is a current Christian song by Tauren Wells that says, “If it’s not good, then He’s not done with it yet.” If things feel like a mess, stay the course. God will restore. It may not look like you think it should, but it will look like He wants it to look, and it will be even better. So don’t let go of the dream. Hold on and see what God will do with it!