What are your dreams?

Each and everyone of us has God-given dreams and desires. Big ones or small ones. Without such dreams, there will be no ambition to chase. No goal to reach. We will all be nothing without dreams.

When I was young, becoming a nurse/doctor was my dream.When I graduated College, I felt that pursuing Medicine was a calling so I took the NMAT exam out of blue. When I knew about the results that I passed a month after, I was all the more excited that I was already close to my dreams. I immediately inquired and applied at my dream school which was the no.1 Medical School in our country.

Fast forward. After the first month of class, I was in culture shock. I was exhausted. I wasn’t well adjusted. Have you experienced being enthusiastic about something recently, but then you realized that the joy you once had was gone? I was like a kid chasing an ice cream truck to get my favorite strawberry ice cream. Once I bought it, I held the luscious ice cream cone with delight then immediately devoured it and then minutes after being satiated, gone. I hardly noticed the feeling of excitement. Never did I expected that studying would really take much of my time. Time for myself, time for family, time for social life, even my Quiet time with the Lord was affected. However, aside from the bouts of stressful days, sleepless nights, caffeine overload days in order to finish reviewing four books with a bulk of chapters, I’m still grateful for it. Why?

Paul said in the Book of Galatians, “Let us not be weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don’t give up.” There will always be a spectrum of good and bad days. It will always be part of our lives. It’s like taking a surprise quiz and finding out whether you pass or not. Things won’t always work out the way we plan. But we shouldn’t be afraid because even if inconvenient situations catch us off guard, it doesn’t  catch our God off guard. These things are planned and divinely placed in our path for a reason. God uses circumstances to draw us closer to Him and to change us to be more like Christ.  It’s these moments where our faith is tested and we look down to see whether we are standing on rock or sand. Do we really believe that God is in control of all the details of our life? Do we really believe that His grace is sufficient to get us through the day? If we then continue to respond right in every way, if we allow tough times to shape and mold us- we will turn out to be better and brighter version of ourselves.

Dreams come with great responsibility. It is just not enough to dream and not do something about it. You have to work hard for it. Sweat. Tears. Blood. I always do believe that you reap what you sow.

So whenever you feel like giving up? Pray. Pour out your heart and soul through prayer because even when you pour out your heart to a friend, they may or may not accurately interpret the cry of your soul. God always hears, always understands, always listens with compassion.

But remember this, this is what David meant when he said delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Delighting in Him is a command and a condition to His promise-to give you your heart’s desires. Prayer is not for gratifying our natural desires. Prayer is for satisfying the desires of people who are devoted to God’s desires. It should coincide with God’s plans. “If we ask anything according to His will.”

Just trust and believe in Him. You never know, just a few more days of believing, another few weeks of doing the right thing, another few months of staying in faith, and you could see great results!

Keep standing and keep believing because you are closer than you think to fulfilling every dream and desire He has placed inside of you!