Broken Dreams

“Now…Naomi’s husband…died, and she was left with her two sons…After they had lived there about ten years, both … also died, and Naomi was left without…” Ruth 1:3-5.

She went to live in a better place with her husband and children.  They wanted a better life than what was offered in Judah at the time…dreams of living in abundance instead of struggling in the lack of provisions of the land.  Nothing wrong with that dream…I would have chosen the same for my family.  They set up their life living out their dream, until one day her husband died.  Her heart was broken but she had to keep going for the sake of the boys.  Within the next ten years this mommy watched the deaths of both sons.  Broken-heartedness…a heart full of holes…lives lived without…dreams splintered into a thousand shards. 

We all have broken dreams and shattered hopes.  I am no different as I have had to let go of certain dreams in my own family.  I have had to push images from my mind so the pain will not overtake the blessings.  Like Naomi, we all are left without something…that job we have always dreamed of…that parent we thought we would have around longer…that prodigal who has not yet returned…that spouse who determined we were no longer his dream. 

Broken dreams can be pathways to intimacy with God.  Shattered realities may tempt our hearts to quit dreaming.  Staying in our brokenness will affect every aspect of our lives…our spirit… our faith…our relationships.  We were created to dream, not to despair.  ‘Our lack of dreams is probably a by-product of our brokenness, but children of God shouldn’t be without dreams.’ Stronger, p. 160.  Naomi had every reason to be crushed in spirit, yet God would not leave her alone in her despair.  He raised up a new family through Ruth and Boaz who would be the direct descendant to Christ.  He breathed life in the dead places of her heart and resurrected hope in the future.  He had these plans for her all along but heartbreak tends to cloud hope that may be on the horizon.  In the calm times it is easy to trust God with our hearts but will we trust Him with our broken dreams?  Will we truly believe that everything God does is for our future blessing?

Dr. Larry Crabb, author of Shattered Dreams writes, ‘There’s never a moment in all our lives, from the day we first trusted Christ till the day we see Him, when God is not longing to bless us.  At every moment, in every circumstance, God is doing us good…At this exact moment, He is giving us what He thinks is good.’

Will we trust Him with this moment?