Hope’s Rescue: Defeating Your Fear of Dashed Dreams and Lost Hopes

It’s happening again. Life isn’t going the way I planned, and I feel stuck—partially from my circumstances and partly of my own making—in a vacuum of time.

It’s as if the days are rushing by too quickly for me to grasp and hold onto while I accomplish nothing of what I feel I should and slip farther and farther away from where I had expected to be at this point.

Goals, opportunities, and dreams seem to be slipping away. Or perhaps they’re simply lying dormant while time marches on.

Either way, life is not going as I had planned. Not as, dare I say it, I had hoped. I sometimes blame myself for that. And I sometimes blame the circumstances. Both are factors.

The end result is fear. I fear that I’m making mistakes that are costing me my dreams. I fear that I will never attain those goals. Worse, I fear the consequences if I have to change paths or if I never achieve what I had planned.

On a good day, I remember God is the One in control of everything. He’s not surprised by the way my life is turning out. He planned it this way.

But sometimes I think that truth becomes a way for me to pass blame to someone else. Gives me Someone to accuse.

Well, I guess this is how God wants it, I can sulkily think to myself as I continue to tread water in a sea of lost hopes, wondering when my legs will give out and the worst will happen.

Maybe too much of that murky sea water has clouded my vision, because I’m not seeing the whole picture. Or rather, I’m staring at the island mirage on the horizon rather than the lifeboat beside me.

My rescue is this: God loves me.

For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness. – Psalm 26:3

God isn’t an unfeeling dictator who’s controlling my fate to veer in disappointing and depressing directions. He loves me. He loves you.

He is steadfast to always, always love His chosen children. His faithfulness never ends even when we are faithless.

I don’t have to tread water and fear I’m going to drown. I can walk on solid land. I can walk in God’s faithfulness.

All I have to do is open my eyes and look around. Evidence of His love for me is everywhere in my life, even in the unexpected directions my life is taking. When I look hard with my vision restored, I can see how He’s loving me, holding me, directing me. How He’s blessing me in a thousand ways I take for granted or choose to ignore.

When I can’t see His love, it’s still there. I don’t see His love in those times because I’m blinded by so many other things I’m giving priority. I focus on my plans slipping away, goals lost, expectations failed, and fears of a future I don’t think was meant to be.

But His love was and is meant to be, His love in and through my life. His faithfulness to guide me exactly where I’m supposed to be, precisely when I’m supposed to get there.

God won’t let me drown.

He won’t let me miss opportunities He wants me to have, fail where He wants me to succeed, or face a grim future He won’t enable me to endure.

Is your life not going the way you planned? Do you feel that hope is crumbling around you? Are you worried about what the future might hold?

Cling to the promise of His love. Fix it always before your eyes. Keep your gaze locked on His love and rest in His faithfulness.

When you feel fear and worry taking hold, look for the evidences of His love in your life. They are there aplenty, even in the worst of circumstances.

In God’s unending faithfulness, He will wash away your fear as He plucks you from that sea of lost hopes and sets you on the solid rock of a far greater hope that is and will always be yours—His love.

Can you see evidence of God’s love in your life? Has seeing His love calmed your fears during a difficult time? Please share!

Photos by Max Rovensky, Li Yang, and Ana Gabriel on Unsplash. Original graphics designed by Jerusha Agen.