Jaci Velasquez's When God Rescripts Your LifeSample

What dreams are keeping you from living your life now? Because, really, that’s a nightmare. The prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 29:8, wrote about how that feels: “As when a hungry person dreams of eating, but awakens hungry still; as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking, but awakens faint and thirsty still.” To be so caught up in something that isn’t your life—your true, singular gift of a life—to be trapped forever in a loop of comparison of your today against your fantasy, that’s a torment. You may be standing in your nondescript kitchen, dreaming you were on a stage. I’ve stood on a stage, dreaming I was in a nondescript kitchen. . . .

And sister, can I just tell you, any “dreams” we have that make us ungrateful before our God, any “dreams” that are allowed to spiral into disappointment with our today and dissatisfaction with our now, well, those are the kinds of “dreams” we need to do a self-check on. I’ve got to distinguish the difference between a God-given dream and my own agenda. It’s not always easy to tell the difference. Some of my agendas can seem really good. But I’m learning that when I let what I see as unfulfilled dreams propel me toward ungrateful, unhelpful behaviors, then I can know I’m trying to do all the interpreting myself and I’m rejecting God’s interruption and God’s interpretation. Maybe you’re like me: when things aren’t working out the way I envisioned, I’m charging toward food that isn’t good for me, charging the card for that next pair of shoes I don’t need, charging into emotions with my husband or those closest to me that can hurt and sting them. And that’s when I can know that I’m hurtling away from a God dream. . . .

Hear me well. I’m not telling you to not reach for more. I’m not telling you to not take a risk in the direction of your faith. I’m all for it! What I am telling you is that there may be a lot of God in your dream . . . and there may be a whole lot of you that’s snuck in there too. It’s not that the blend is wrong. . . . What I am saying is that God will often interrupt and interpret your dream in a way you hadn’t thought of.