Our dreams and God's sovereignty

-

Gary, my husband and avid hunter, and I sat watching a hunting program last week. After plotting non-stop against a monster buck for several years, that hunter's perseverance finally paid off. Moments after downing the trophy deer he exclaimed, "I'm thankful when dreams align with God's will." The hunter may have stopped the deer in its tracks, but his words had the same effect on us.

Since then, we have talked through the presuppositions of that perspective. We 100% embrace God’s sovereignty in all things big and small but we had not considered the role our dreams and goals might have on our actions.

Let’s say we have an athletic goal, i.e. running a personal best in a race. We are smart in our training, exhibit admirable diligence, eat right, and get enough sleep. We go to the start line ready for a break-out performance. Alas, it doesn’t happen. Was God mean to not let it happen? No. Was His will predicated on our actions prior to or during the race? After all, we did all that was humanly possible. Probably not. If God is absolutely sovereign—and I believe He is—God must have had our ultimate good in mind when he ordained the outcome, even though we may not understand it.


Does this mean that we become laissez-faire, taking a “whatever will be will be” attitude. Not at all. There are many Biblical principles and examples—far beyond the scope of these few paragraphs—that compel us to excellence through perseverance and endurance. But how wonderful it is when we set our minds on a good goal and God is so kind to will us to achieve it!

Sometime ago, Gary set his mind on putting a deer he named “Double Forks” both in the freezer and mounted on the wall. He used trail cameras to capture video and pictures of the big guy. He patterned the deer and learned his ways. He carefully selected a day with beneficial temps and wind direction to perch on his stand high up in a tree and patiently wait.

It truly is a beautiful thing when our dreams align with God’s will. Thank you, Lord!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When good results disappoint

-
Image
"If you don't find something you can fix, I will be greatly disappointed," I stated matter-of-factly to my cardiologist. And I was serious. Dead serious. I was laying in my hospital bed waiting to be wheeled into the cath lab to get a clear picture of what was happening--or not happening--inside those skinny little coronary arteries. If he did not find something to stent, like he did five years ago, my symptoms would have no chance of being validated. I will spare you all the details, but my running has really taken a dive over the last few months. The group of women I run with can be chatting it up having a great time, only to unintentionally pull away and leave me eating their dust. I try to keep up but it's like my engine is throttled back by a governor, heart rate zooming upwards to no avail. I simply can't go. I feel my chest tighten and throat close. I have to walk. I hate being the anchor. Lately, I make excuses to why I can not join them on those long Satu...
Read more

666 miles of Hell(gate)

-
Image
"Last verse, same as the first." In same ways, yes. My last race was the same as my first: I started. I finished. But in many ways, there's no comparison. It took ten finishes and 666 miles  of the devilish Hellgate 100K race to figure it out. The brainchild of Dr. David Horton, the Hellgate 100k+ (actually 66.6 miles) always begins at one minute after midnight on the second Saturday of December. The race has garnered a near cult-following, many hopeful entrants turned away. Those rewarded a cherished spot must earn Horton's approval as a worthy candidate. It is he who judges an applicant's toughness and ability to cover the rocky, mountainous real estate between the start and finish lines. But even so, the chosen few are never guaranteed a finish. What they are promised is a night and a day of unpredictable weather, trail conditions, and a barrage of self-doubt somewhere along the forest path. I was forty-five when I sold my soul to the trail devils. N...
Read more

Win a free scarf!

-
Image
Over the years, I have enjoyed home parties. You know the kind: a bunch of women gather, a representative lays out her wares (everything from kitchen tools to jewelery, to makeup and skin care products that promise a glowing, beautiful face), and the attendees pick, choose, and fill out order forms. I've been both a rep and a hostess. Back in the late 70's I made sewed crafty items and held my own little in-home selling parties. Years later, I sold for The Pampered Chef (TM) since I loved the products. But alas, I gave up because I didn't feel right about asking already financially-strapped folks to buy what they could probably live without. Yeah. I'm not much of a saleswoman. Borrowed from www.mytradesofhope.com/tamarawalston But every one in a while, a business idea comes along that grabs my attention. I found that in 'Trades of Hope.' Until about a month or two ago, I had never heard of this group. But then I came across a friend's post, Tamara Wal...
Read more