Don't Stop Believin' (Part 2)

Quite often, however, it is hard for us to hear God’s voice when our buttons are being pushed. We wonder why everything is going wrong and if we have a bull’s-eye on our chest. This is especially true when we have unfulfilled hopes and dreams. The longing to see our hopes fulfilled can create an ache in our hearts so large that makes it difficult to focus on anything else. Whether it is for a mate or your family, your future or (in my case) to have a baby, waiting can seem unbearable at times.

Why does God seem to be taking so long to answer our prayers and fulfill His promises to us? We become like God’s backseat drivers – totally focused on the destination and missing the journey. At each twist and turn we say, “Why are You going that way? Don’t you know the highway would be faster?” And we’re all edgy sitting there – wincing at His decisions and sure that if we were behind the wheel we would be doing it better. Yet all the while God has purposed that there are many things we need to learn through the journey. One turn different or one change in timing and we miss out on the experiences and lessons that God has designed for our lives in order to make us who He has called us to be.

He is not just concerned with our hopes and dreams for our lives, but also with His hopes and dreams for our lives. Romans 8:28 is a famous and oft-quoted verse in Christian circles: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” The next verse tells us that He “has chosen His people to become like His Son.” (Rom 8:29) Placing these verses in context together, we can see that the “good” that God is working for in our lives is His best for us: to become like His Son. God’s dream for us is that we would become like Jesus.

In fact, I believe that He is calling us to entrust our hopes and dreams to Him. God wants to be the shepherd of our hopes. It seems like a scary thought in many ways; to take those things that we most hope for – are most wrapped up in – and give them out of our hands and over to God to take care of them. This means trusting that He will nurture and grow our hopes. And it also means that we choose to believe God when He says that He works all things for our good – even when the “working” is on our hopes to change them and shift them, redirecting them towards that which would truly bring us life.

God seems to be doing a lot of this in my life lately. There is deep heart surgery going on through life’s circumstances as God redirects my hopes and dreams into something better and higher. It is not easy – sometimes it feels as if disappointment will crush the life out of me and other times it feels as though the most sensitive places in my life are like raw nerves being touched and prodded. I take comfort in this promise: “A bruised reed will He not break, and a dimly burning wick will He not quench” (Is 42:3) No matter how far I am pushed through the process, God is compassionately making sure that it doesn’t go beyond what I can bear.

He is giving me new ways to look at the circumstances in my life. I guess you might call it “being transformed through the renewing of my mind” (Rom. 12:2). Instead of seeing God as someone who is “pulling the rug out” as soon as I trust, I have a new picture. It is of a baby learning to walk. He is holding a walker and feels secure, but his father moves the walker just out of reach. At first he might fall, but slowly his little leg muscles get strong enough to stand. Then, he begins a new venture – one little faltering step at a time. The walker keeps moving as the father helps his son to gain strength and skills that are fundamental to the rest of his life. He will falter and even fall again. But the son has a Father who will always walk with him step by little step into His hopes and dreams and on into the Son.


Ben Gumienny is blessed to be a part of a spiritual family at The Bridge in Kelowna. He is excited about watching the new NHL season and his team the Calgary Flames. Ben hopes that God will use this post to minister to your heart and draw you closer to Him.