Let’s face it, life is not always rosy. Do you remember being a child and picturing adulthood?

For me, my image had me married in my early twenties. By that time, I’d have a writing career and novels filling the shelf, and of course, I’d live on a ranch somewhere with horses sticking their heads out of a red barn. A farm dog would trail at my heels, and open spaces would extend forever into the landscape.

How about you? What was your ideal world as a child?

I’ll be honest, none of my dreams came to fruition, at least not as I pictured it, and that’s okay, God had bigger plans.

But that’s the way it is, isn’t it? God sometimes doesn’t follow our path.

Childhood dreams are one thing, but the real pressing matters of life—well, it’s harder to accept God’s leading in those areas. Why does God not provide for my dreams?

In Philippians 4:19, it says:

My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

God differentiates between wants and needs. Acquiring things, even what we perceive as good things, is not God’s primary objective for our lives (Luke 12:15). God hasn’t derailed your life plans. Trust me. It may feel like He isn’t taking you down the path you would have chosen, but that’s okay.

God knows far better than you and me (Jeremiah 29:11). There’s a point where we have to choose to accept this fact. Lean into it. Let it guide your life with a sense of peace. He isn’t indifferent to you. As Matthew 7:11 says, He’s a good Father. He loves you, despite anything you’ve done. When we surrender our dreams into His hands, new dreams form in our hearts.

My life is His to design, to create and mold. The Bible often uses the picture of clay. I want desperately for Him to mold me, even if it means releasing my future into His hands.