Have you ever reached a point in your life when you look around and say to yourself, this is not what I thought my life would look like?  When you did a life inventory, and didn’t like what you counted?  Maybe it was the realization that you would never have that lake house, or the beach house, or cabin in the mountains.  Maybe it was when you realized that your husband was never going to be the romantic, caring, listening, patient, loving man that seems to be in every romantic movie on screen.  Or that your wife had put on a few pounds, and didn’t look quite the same as the Sports Illustrated models do.  Maybe it was looking at the mounting credit card debt, or how small the 401k really is right now.  When your children disappoint you.  Perhaps it was when you were diagnosed with cancer, or Alzheimer’s.  Or when your parents died, or your spouse, or even the death of a child.

At some point, most of us think “this is not how it was supposed to turn out”.  The hopes and dreams that drove us when we were young, or even when we were kids, somehow have been lost along the way.  The thing that we just knew would make us content, that perfect situation that would be so healing to our hearts, it’s simply gone.  And it’s not coming back.

What happened?  I’m the first to say I don’t have many answers to hard questions like this.  What I do know is that maybe, just maybe, our hopes and dreams are in the wrong place.  What if we really are “ambassadors” here on earth as Paul calls us?  That means we don’t belong, that our citizenship is elsewhere, and that we are by definition different than those around us.  What if we really sought His kingdom first and foremost?  What if we really loved the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, and souls?  Would that somehow change our hopes and dreams?

I believe it does.  James and John were fishermen.  I imagine their hopes and dreams centered around a better net, a bigger boat, and fish prices going up.  Maybe they wanted a bigger house, or to move to closer to the water.  What we know, is that when Christ called them, they walked away.  They literally walked away from their old life.  They chose a new Lord, and He gave them new hopes, new dreams, and a new purpose.  Once they saw the resurrected Lord in all His glory, I don’t think they ever sat around and wished for their old boat back.  Instead, they set the world upside down, they were martyred for Him, they were homeless and destitute, yet they were filled with joy and overflowing with the Holy Spirit.

What if the verses that say ask and you shall receive are true?  Could it be true that if we seek Christ with everything we have, if we truly make Him Lord in our lives, then our hearts would be changed? Would our deepest hopes and dreams become centered around Christ and His kingdom?  Would we actually have a peace that passes understanding?  Would we be willing to give, maybe even to give sacrificially?  Would we finally see the world and all our heartbreaks as light and momentary troubles as Paul says in II Cor?

I chose to believe the answer is yes.  I chose to believe that what Christ says is true, that He comes to give us life abundantly.  I believe that abundant life has literally nothing to do with health, wealth, or prosperity.  It has everything to do with peace, joy, love, purpose, and His Kingdom.  I believe a Christ follower can and should live an abundant life in the face of worldly adversity, heartbreak, and shattered dreams.  I believe that too often we willingly shackle ourselves to the chains of this world when the key to abundant life sits at our feet.

Grace and Peace