God Didn’t Promise You a White Picket Fence

Lately, I have been thinking alot about my dreams and what I want my future to look like.  My perspective has changed alot over the years.  I have always assumed all my life that someday I would be married with two or three kids living in a big house somewhere.  That would be the dream.  I think most people grow up thinking like this.  There is nothing wrong with dreaming.  It’s good to dream.

I think where the problem lies is when the dream doesn’t happen right away (or maybe not at all) or doesn’t come in the package we were anticipating and we start to lose hope.  We can start to feel a lack of trust and confidence in the plans that God has for us.  For some, a sense of failure and fear can set in.  In so many ways, our culture equates success with the achievement of the American Dream.

I’m choosing not to think this way anymore.  I have realized that certain things are not guarantees.  We are not guaranteed to get married, have children, a dog and a house with a white picket fence.  Now, I do believe that God knows the desires of our hearts and loves to give good gifts to His children.  I don’t believe that God withholds from us things that we desire to torture us.

However, I do believe that God knows what is the best for us.  He not only knows what we want, but He knows what we need.  In John 10:10, Jesus states that He has come so that we may have a full and abundant life.  This tells me that when I set my eyes on following Him, He will lead me along the path of a fruitful life filled with joy and His love.  His desire is for me to live my life to the fullest, whether I be married, single, with children or without, in a big house, or sharing one with 4 other girls….are you catching my drift?

My life has changed so much this year and it looks nothing like I expected, but I am loving the journey.  There have been so many unexpected surprises along the way and God has blessed me in more ways than I can count.  My desire every day is to lay down my own agenda and blueprint to follow His leading knowing that He is wanting to do far more in my life than I can even begin to comprehend.

Enjoy whatever season you’re in.  Live each moment to the full.  Don’t focus so much on what you don’t have and instead choose to open your eyes to all the blessings that surround you every day.  Like Paul, be one who can say, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:12-13).

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