PART 4: WHEN DREAMS CAN’T COME TRUE

INTRODUCTION

Plans are great. Reality is greater. Things don’t always go as planned. Some dreams don’t come true. Some dreams can’t come true. The two of you won’t live happily ever after. You aren’t going to walk your daughter down the aisle. It wasn’t the dream job after all. So what do you do when you discover your dream can’t come true?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Talk about a time when one of your dreams came true. What did it mean to you?

2. What are some reasons people get frustrated with or disappointed by God? Do you think their frustration and disappointment are ever reasonable? Why or why not?

3. Have you ever felt like God promised you something or owed you something, only to find that your dream would never come true? If so, how did you respond?

4. During the message, Drew said, “Dreams that don’t come true say nothing of God’s faithfulness or activity.” Is that difficult for you to believe? Why or why not?

5. Read Psalm 25:4–5. Talk about a time when God used your circumstances to show you something about his ways. What did you discover about God? How did it change your relationship with him?

6. Are you facing the death of a dream right now? If so, what can you do this week to put your trust and hope in God? How can this group support you?

MOVING FORWARD

The foundation of faith is not answered prayers or happy endings. It’s always a mistake to wrap your faith in God around the fulfillment of your dreams or even the answers to your prayers. Dreams that don’t come true say nothing of God’s faithfulness or activity. You aren’t forsaken. Declare the words of 2 Samuel 15: “If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back. Let him do to me whatever seems good to him.”

CHANGING YOUR MIND

In you, Lord my God, I put my trust. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:1, 5