A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

"A dream is a wish your heart makes ...

No matter how your heart is aching,
If you keep on believing
The dreams that you wish
Will come true ..."

How many of us, I wonder, grew up listening to Walt Disney's Cinderella singing those words? She sings them right at the beginning of the film, just after she's been woken up by the clock striking the hour, long before she goes to the ball and meets Prince Charming. I haven't watched 'Cinderella' for years, but I can remember Cinderella's song. (Is that sad or what?!?) Perhaps because I grew up listening to it. Perhaps because I believed it was true. Perhaps ...

The trouble is that in real life - which is not a beautiful fairy-tale - we can keep on believing in our dreams, but that doesn't mean they will come true. As believers, it's important that we all submit our dreams to God and give them to Him. We can all dream in line with His Word and His Will, but ultimately our lives are not about us and our dreams coming true - they're about God and His plans and dreams for us coming true.

Running through my thoughts recently have been ideas like this:

"My dreams are good! I don't think God can have better plans and dreams for me ..."
"Most of my dreams are broken, but I don't want to let them go. They're my dreams and they might - just might - still come true ..."
"Other girls' dreams come true. Why can't mine?"

I (naturally!) think these are all valid questions, but there's something I need to remember while I ponder them. That is - God knew me before the foundation of the world and knit me together in my mother's womb; He has plans - good plans - for me; He works everything together for good. Some of my dreams aren't coming true - but God has plans and dreams for my life, He is in control, so as long as I follow Him I can be sure that His plans and dreams for my life are coming true.

But there's something else I need to do ...

I need to give God my dreams. I can't do myself any good by hanging onto them. Most of them are broken and holding onto broken dreams leads to disillusionment and bitterness. I need to give my dreams - all of them: the likely, the possible, the impossible - to God. I need to choose to trust Him with them, confident that His plans and dreams for me far outshine mine and will come true. I need to let Him - who wants to be involved in every part of my life - be involved in my dreams and do with them as He knows is best. He - who created me and loves me - already knows every one of them and He already knows which ones are broken and which ones have broken my heart. He knows that and He understands how it's hurt.

But still I need to give Him my dreams and in doing so make room in my heart for His plans and dreams. It may be difficult and painful, but it's one of the best exchanges I can make: my dreams for His dreams. God here are my dreams - the wishes that my heart makes. Please take them as I give them - willingly and whole-heartedly. I know that if I keep on believing, You will make Your dreams for me come true!