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Crushed Dreams
HOW TO GET UP AFTER Your Dreams Are Crushed
Written By Josiah Kennealy, USA
One
of the biggest life hopes I had when I was a kid was to play professional
baseball.
That dream was shattered when during my freshman year
of high school, I was cut from the high school baseball team.
This made me feel like a failure
in life; I felt so small and I wanted to hide. My identity was wrapped up in
being a baseball player.
I desperately wished my life would be different from
the sad reality I was in. I’m sure that you can relate to this feeling of
emptiness inside you when you’ve had a dream crushed.
Maybe it was a break-up, or a situation that didn’t
turn out as expected. It could be that you failed a class at school, lost a
scholarship, or didn’t get into your dream university. Or an injury that took
away your abilities.
There comes a point where you
will want to get up from the knockdown.
For me, this happened when I received encouragement
from my parents and some close friends.
I started to redirect my energy towards other
projects: working a part-time job and getting more involved at church.
I ended up working at that part-time job for over
eight years, which really helped build my career and my skills for the future.
And the people I met at church have since become my
inner circle of friends.
When you do find some strength to
get up, here are three steps that can change the game for you:
1.
Look up.
A while ago, I had the
opportunity to travel to the Holy Land and walk where Jesus walked in Israel.
I’ll never forget waking up next to the Sea of
Galilee, seeing the foggy mist rise off the water as the sun came up in the
morning, and seeing the rolling foothills.
That morning, I read from Psalm
121:1-2, in which King David wrote: “I
look to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the
Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”
Anytime
I have a tough meeting, a terrible day, or feel stuck and helpless, I do one
thing: I look up.
I pray the prayer of Psalm 121 and recognize that
my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
Even though my circumstances don’t change in that
instant, my perspective does.
Looking up gives me help, confidence, and hope of a
brighter future. It heals my heart from heartbreak.
Failure
is not final. The creator of futures, the giver of dreams, and the restorer of
promises - our God Himself - is where your help is found.
He may restore your dead dream, He may give you a new
dream, or He may simply give you the strength you need to face today. So, look
up!
Ever
since I returned home from the Holy Land visit, I have had a small card taped
to the ceiling of my office.
It says: “The Sky Is The Limit.” It’s only when you
look up, that you begin to realize that the sky is the limit, and your
perspective changes.
2. Reach up.
What if your situation hasn’t
changed?
I’ve
found that the next step after looking up is to reach up.
God has extended His hand of help faithfully to
generation after generation; He won’t fail you and turn His back on you.
Another psalm that offers hope
and a promise is Psalm 94:14: “For the
LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.”
You are not abandoned and you are not alone.
So
reach out and receive God’s strength. You have not disappointed the God of
grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
God may let your good dream die because He has
something different and great in store for you.
One way of looking at your
situation as you reach up for help is to ask yourself the question: “What is God showing me?”
Sometimes,
God helps us by providing people who can help.
I’m in my twenties, and I’ve found such help and hope
from mentors who are in their forties, fifties, and sixties. They have offered
insight, advice, a listening ear, clarifying questions, and encouragement.
One
of those people who has been a constant encouragement is my high school youth
pastor.
Pretty much any time I’ve failed, experienced a
setback, or found myself discouraged,
I’ve looked up, and then reached up by reaching out to
my friend, Brent.
Time and time again he has pointed me to Jesus and
reminded me of God’s faithfulness in my life.
Who
is someone who can help you take the next step?
Mentors can come in the form of teachers, pastors,
supervisors, parents, grandparents, among other wise people.
God has placed the right people around you in your
life - reach up to God and others for help!
3. Dare to dream again.
The biggest life-lesson I learned
from getting cut from the high school baseball team was that there was more to
life than athletics.
God can give you a new future. God redeemed my
brokenness in a few ways.
First, He gave me a second chance. When I got to
college, a small Division III university in Minnesota, I went for the open
tryouts for the baseball team . . . and I made it!
Beyond
one baseball season, God gave me a new dream that was bigger than just me - and
it was selfless.
This dream came one summer afternoon after reading the
Bible, praying, and day-dreaming in my parents’ living room while on a break
from college.
God showed me a motion-picture in my head of what He
wanted me to do with my life: Reaching college students and young adults for
Christ!
I could see thousands of young people on their knees,
bowing before the God of heaven and reaching up to Him in surrender, experiencing
personal breakthroughs in their spiritual lives.
I’ve
never felt more alive than when I am working on the dream that God has given
me.
Through my daily time with God through His word,
prayer, and worship, I grow in my love for Him and find joy in Him.
Also, every time I meet a college student one-on-one,
pray with a young couple, or speak to an audience of young adults, I see a
partial fulfillment of that dream God gave me.
It brings such a smile to my face and my heart to know
that this dream is from God, for God, and coming true through God!
Just
like God gave me a new dream, He may have a new dream for you.
Letting go of past hurts, heartbreaks, and hang-ups
can be hard.
But dreaming again starts with looking up to the
heavens, where your help comes from.
Then it’s reaching up to God, the lifter of our head,
and to mentors, friends, and family members whom God has placed in our lives to
bring wholeness and healing.
Lastly, you need to be brave enough to dream again.
Josiah
Kennealy (@josiahkennealy)
is all about seeing young adults find Jesus, grow to become more like him and
serve him the rest of their lives.
•Adventurer
•Encourager •Son •Pastor •Friend
He
serves as the young adult pastor at Cedar Valley Church in Bloomington,
Minnesota. This is a growing community of college students, early career,
single young adults and young married couples.
Josiah
is a 2010 graduate of Normandale Community College with an A.A. degree
in Business. He is also a 2013 graduate of North Central University with
a degree in Youth Ministry and Biblical Studies. He is in pursuit of a Master’s
degree in Strategic Leadership from NCU as well. His anticipated graduation
date for that is in May of 2017.
Josiah
has a passion for millennials and regularly preaches to the next generation on
college campuses, high school chapels, youth and young adult retreats and local
churches.
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