The Wishing Well
When you were little did you ever throw coins into a wishing well? As a little girl, I remember my Mum giving me coins to throw in any wishing well we would come across and I would close my eyes and make a wish – I would wish for what every little girl wishes for at some point – I would wish for a pony! But I never made my Mum buy pony food or a saddle after making my wish because I never actually expected it to come true. However, if my Mum promised me an ice cream when I got home I would be planning what flavour I was going to have and what toppings I would put on it because I expected to get an ice-cream.
{The difference between a wish and a promise is found in our expectation}
I wonder if you have ever felt like the dreams in your heart have become more of a wish than a promise you can put your expectation in?
That dream that you held onto for so long but because of disappointment or frustration you have thrown it into the wishing well and walked away with no real confidence or expectation that you will ever see it come to pass.
Maybe it was the dream of owning your own business or fulfilling the call that God placed in your heart years ago, or living free from fear and anxiety, or maybe it’s the dream to have a family of your own one day.
God wants to restore our dreams and revive our expectations.
How can we retrieve the dreams that have been sitting in the bottom of the wishing well for so long?
{RENEWING OUR HOPE WILL RESTORE OUR DREAMS}
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12 (NIV)
Hopelessness is having no expectation of good.
Dreams deferred don’t make the heart sick, it’s when our hope and expectation of good is deferred that we feel heavy in heart.
{Our hope is renewed when we find rest for our hearts in His unfailing love for us}
“The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.” Psalm 147:11 (NIV)
When you just got turned down from another job that seemed perfect don’t throw your dream into the wishing well and lose hope – put your hope in God’s unfailing love and in His greater plan.
When you face yet another bad health report, don’t lose hope, run into God’s arms, the God of comfort and healing will renew your hope.
When another year passes, and you still haven’t found ‘the one’, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus who has the details of your future planned out to perfection.
It’s so easy to walk away from our dreams when things aren’t progressing the way we thought they would be or things aren’t happening the way we like or in the timing we like.
We can place our dreams into the hands of God because He not only holds our dreams, but He nurtures and grows them into something that is beyond what we ever dreamt or hoped for!
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more that all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” Ephesians 3:20 (NIV)
{He doesn’t just give us the future we hoped for, but He gives us a future that is beyond our wildest imagination}
What dreams are currently sitting idle in your wishing well?
What dreams does God want to revive in your heart today?
Dare to pick up those dreams one more time and place them into the hands of God – He alone is your hope, and He will never let you down.
Elise Heerde is a wife, mother, teacher and writer from Melbourne who loves Jesus and passionately shares about the grace, hope and love that He offers to all. She deeply desires to see the broken made whole, the captives set free and the lost brought home.
She found freedom from long-term depression and anxiety in Jesus and now dedicates her life to empowering and inspiring others to live in the freedom that comes from having a personal relationship with Jesus. You can find her instagram account here @her.anchor
Elise has a Diploma in Ministry and is currently studying her Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies.
