“If we have not achieved our early dreams, we must either find new ones or see what we can salvage from the old. If we have accomplished what we set out to do in our youth, then we need not weep like Alexander the Great that we have no more worlds to conquer. There is clearly much left to be done and whatever else we are going to do, we had better get on with it.” Rosalyn Carter.
Last week, we looked at unfulfilled dreams, but the second part of Carter’s comments present a different kind of challenge. What happens when our dreams come true? What happens after ‘happily ever after’? And taking the idea out of fairytales and into our spiritual journey, what happens when your prayers are answered and God gives you the desires of your heart?
Some of us can articulate exactly what that prayer, that life longing, was. We prayed for a husband, or children, or a home. We prayed for healing, or freedom, or for a mighty breakthrough in some part of a wounded heart. For some it was career success, or a ministry opportunity. And He answered with a resounding YES. Since that day, that time, we’ve been thankful and grateful and revelled in the blessing, we dived into our answered prayer, enjoying every moment. Yet some of us, if we dare, admit we’ve also got a little bored, wondering why the thing we’d longed for for so long doesn’t satisfy us anymore. Others simply ask, what happens now?
It’s at this point we realise that an answered prayer was never the ultimate goal, it was only the beginning. There is life with God beyond the answer. So now that you’re married, what is God saying to you about your marriage? Now you have those much longed for children, what does He say about raising them? Now the prayers have fallen into place – what does He say now? Has it built our faith and strengthened us on our journey? Or have we revelled in the gifts we’ve been given so much that we’ve forgotten to reconnect with the Giver?
What I love about this quote is the salutary reminder that, wonderful though it is, there is more to life than our personal dreams coming true. It reminded me that thankful though I am, there is more to life than getting the life that I always wanted. There is still a Great Commission, there is still a broken world of hurt, there is a role to play.
We could continue to dream, but perhaps the thing to do is live. So if your prayers have been answered, celebrate! And with the strength and faith that has built up through that answered prayer, with the confidence in God that has grown because of his goodness in your life, pursue Him again. And listen out for what He wants for your life on the next stage of the Great God Adventure.
