“Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. . . . And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”
Jeremiah 29:5,7 (NLT)
We were so sure about the call to ministry on our lives even before we got married. It was what connected us as a couple, the thing that took us from one address and assignment to another, and eventually to Germany together. Germany was one of our last stops, the last clear call we heard from God, our last hope to see if something in ministry might actually work out for us in the long haul. But what had once felt like the greatest purpose of our lives — both as individuals and as a couple — started to feel like wearing clothes in the wrong size. We wrestled to make them fit, constantly adjusting and readjusting the way we looked at the future.
After Germany, we moved back to the States, and after another year of full-time ministry, we left it. We stepped into a landscape of wilderness and silence. We began living lives we didn’t imagine we would be living, in a place I never wanted to live in.
We clung to each other as we wrestled through the slow grief of our dreams dying. There were days of melancholy and longing, repeated prayers of pleading to be called back to what was, tearful nights, and quiet, lonely dinners. The days piled up one after another, seemingly void of purpose. The nagging feeling that we were doing something wrong, or that we ourselves were wrong and not good enough to be in ministry, followed me around like an ugly shadow.
I wish I could say it became easier after a few rough months. But the death of anything never comes easy. And for years the grief of those dead dreams kept coming back without invitation. But we tended to the simple things right in front of us. We started noticing the neighbors around us. We moved toward the ones we didn’t choose, the ones chosen for us. These tiny things became our seeds. We watered them with tears of grief, the ache of discontent, and slivers of hope. And over time our tiny, imperfect offering of dreams come undone became a beautiful garden. It was in this garden that I began to learn how to be still and to receive. This unexpected garden began to nourish us.
I see now what I couldn’t see ten years ago: the death of my dream was not the death of God’s dreams for me.
God, this doesn’t look like I thought it would, and it’s breaking my heart. Yet I’m in a place of learning how to be still and how to receive, and my hands are open to Your plan. Nourish me in this unexpected garden and help me see that the death of this dream is not the death of Your dreams for me. Amen.
Written by Tasha Jun, as published in Take Heart: 100 Devotions to Seeing God When Life’s Not Okay
Our devotional, Take Heart: 100 Devotions to Seeing God When Life’s Not Okay, is full of stories where women share from the depth of their experience, pain, and eventual hope as they struggled through times when life was not okay.
I am in the same place and it is HARD. this is not where I thought I would be at my age and I am finding it hard to wait ongod and trust that there is still a plan for my life
I am certainly not where I thought I’d be. I keep thinking what am I doing wrong. But I push on and hope. The passage from Jeremiah speaks to me. Thank you. Always helpful to know I am not alone in my thinking.
So many things in life may not be in our plans! The beauty of weakness, brokenness, neediness makes His amazing grace so much powerful and it is always enough!
Thank you for the verses, comment and prayer. As a widow
It gave me comfort and a way to
look at the future. I am going to share this with my widow friends.
God bless you.
Let Go and Let God.. is what I thought of after reading your good post. At 76 after leaving my big house 2 years ago for a 500 sq foot basement suite to look after 2 grandkids, I now find I am wondering the same.. God what next?. Where can I go.. cost of living so high and what is my purpose as I have had so many health issues in these last 3 years and no health doctor or benefits. This year my word was ANCHOR . I must keep looking up and expect his wisdom and direction too. Thankyou for the encouragement.
We had move from our country home many years ago due to my stepdaughter and our grandson coming to live with us. So we live in the city in a subdivision, one of the noisiest in the city. I long and grieve for the country life again but unable to leave. Stepdaughter and grandson left 2 years ago. We are unable to move as we are 78 years old and with some health issues. This house is too big for us, but we’re grateful for it and for our very good landlord. My husband’s 2 daughters lived with us for 20 years. We rarely see them or even hear from them. But they and all our family, friends and neighbors are in our prayers daily. May the Lord bless you all with His wonderful Presence!
It’s so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of what was. It makes it all the more difficult to recognize and accept when God is making changes in our lives that make us fruitful for His Glory! Thank you for sharing this devotional.