Like a lot of people, I have dreams. Dreams that cause me to push myself…doubt myself…encourage myself…question myself…astonish myself…disappoint myself. Anyone that has dreams knows what I’m talking about. Once you embark on pursuing a dream or a goal, all of a sudden you’ve hitched a ride on an emotional rollercoaster and there are many twists and turns and ups and downs.
And if you’re anything like me, when you really want something to happen, you want it to happen RIGHT NOW. These goals I have…they need to happen right now. Wait? No. I can’t wait. I need them to happen right now. And I think it is that very thought that drives this emotional roller coaster that we can find ourselves on. It’s fuel, but not good fuel.
But there is an alternative fuel. A fuel that doesn’t leave us worn-out and worried but whispers I know the plans I have for you…trust me…commit yourself to me and I will make your paths straight…great is thy faithfulness.
A fuel that doesn’t propel us into the finish line at lightning speed, but rather reins us in.
Where we would have certain opportunities afforded us, he says no.
Where we would move mountains, he says stay in the valley.
Where we would rather float, he says swim.
Where we would rather experience instant huge success, he says here is a small one.
Where we would write our own playbook, he says surrender your agenda to me.
Where we say right now, he says rest.
Where we beg I’m ready, he says you’re not.
I don’t know about you, but so many times I trade in His reins for my own ambition. And when things don’t work out how I’ve decided they should, I’m defeated. When opportunities evade me and rejection is constant, my dreams become delusions. My aspirations become hallucinations.
Who do you think you are? A question that, if I’m honest, is always waiting at the end of all that aspiration.
But every time I find myself questioning God’s plan for my life…questioning the dreams that he placed in my heart, he opens a door. He unlocks a window. And the sun comes streaming in illuminating His plan and putting shadows on my doubts.
I know there is purpose in the reins.
He knows the road ahead. He knows what it will take. He sees all the bumps and bruises along the way. He knows that surrendering to Him is the only way we’ll ever truly be ready for what lies ahead. Whatever that may be.
And there is something so freeing in knowing that it doesn’t all rise and fall with me.
God has those reins.
Wherever I find myself along this life…along that dream, nothing that has been purposed for me will evade me.
God has those reins.
I can’t misstep or miss out on God’s plan for my life when He’s the one holding the reins. That can only happen when I take those reins back into my own hands. And even then, He is so faithful that He will cause those reins to slip out of my grasp so that I am prompted to put them back where they belonged all along.
Who do I think I am? The girl who has given God the reins. That is who I am.
That is who I always hope to be.