Shattered Dreams
A dear friend of mine gave me this book almost a year ago. I eagerly accepted the gift and swore I would read it instantly, because it seemed so fitting for my life circumstances at the time.
Well, I just finished the book today. And I must say, I'm glad I waited. I read the bulk of it during the most intense periods of my most recent heartbreak, but I saved the final chapter for a time of greater peace.
Rather than attempting some sort of fancy review, I think I will just let the book speak for itself. I highly recommend this for anyone who finds themselves in a life that has deviated so very far from the plan. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
On why shattered dreams are necessary:
"But we don't view things that way. So God goes to work to help us see more clearly. One way He works is to allow our lower dreams to shatter. He lets us hurt and doesn't make it better. We suffer and He stands by and does nothing to help, at least nothing that we're aware we want Him to do.
In fact, what He's doing while we suffer is leading us into the depths of our being, into the center of our soul where we feel our strongest passion.
It's there that we discover our desire for God. We begin to feel a desire to know Him that not only survives all our pain, but actually thrives in it until that desire becomes more intense than our desire for all the good things we still want. Through the pain of shattered lower dreams, we wake up to the realization that we want an encounter with God more than we want the blessings of life. And that begins a revolution..." (p.4)
On how to handle our pain:
"When you hurt, hurt. Hurt openly in the presence of God. Hurt openly in the presence of the few who provide you with safe community. Feel your pain. Regard brokenness as an opportunity, as the chance to discover a desire that no brokenness can eliminate but that only brokenness reveals" (p.70).
On God's intentional restraint:
"...it's more difficult for Christ to restrain Himself from making all our dreams come true than for us to watch them shatter...in the middle of our shattered dreams, Jesus is restraining Himself, for reasons we cannot fully understand, from ending our pain" (p.110)
"God's restraint has a purpose. When He appears to be doing nothing, He is doing something we've not yet learned to value and therefore cannot see" (p.115)
Well, I just finished the book today. And I must say, I'm glad I waited. I read the bulk of it during the most intense periods of my most recent heartbreak, but I saved the final chapter for a time of greater peace.
Rather than attempting some sort of fancy review, I think I will just let the book speak for itself. I highly recommend this for anyone who finds themselves in a life that has deviated so very far from the plan. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
On why shattered dreams are necessary:
"But we don't view things that way. So God goes to work to help us see more clearly. One way He works is to allow our lower dreams to shatter. He lets us hurt and doesn't make it better. We suffer and He stands by and does nothing to help, at least nothing that we're aware we want Him to do.
In fact, what He's doing while we suffer is leading us into the depths of our being, into the center of our soul where we feel our strongest passion.
It's there that we discover our desire for God. We begin to feel a desire to know Him that not only survives all our pain, but actually thrives in it until that desire becomes more intense than our desire for all the good things we still want. Through the pain of shattered lower dreams, we wake up to the realization that we want an encounter with God more than we want the blessings of life. And that begins a revolution..." (p.4)
On how to handle our pain:
"When you hurt, hurt. Hurt openly in the presence of God. Hurt openly in the presence of the few who provide you with safe community. Feel your pain. Regard brokenness as an opportunity, as the chance to discover a desire that no brokenness can eliminate but that only brokenness reveals" (p.70).
On God's intentional restraint:
"...it's more difficult for Christ to restrain Himself from making all our dreams come true than for us to watch them shatter...in the middle of our shattered dreams, Jesus is restraining Himself, for reasons we cannot fully understand, from ending our pain" (p.110)
"God's restraint has a purpose. When He appears to be doing nothing, He is doing something we've not yet learned to value and therefore cannot see" (p.115)
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