Repurpose Your Dead Dreams: A discussion from my upcoming book

Welcome to another insightful and thought-provoking episode of the Higher Pursuit Podcast. In today's episode, titled "Repurpose Your Dead Dreams," we delve into one of life's most challenging experiences—the death of a dream we've cherished for so long.

Many of us have nurtured dreams and aspirations, investing our heart and soul into them, only to see them crumble and fade away. It's a moment of deep disappointment and confusion. Yet, in the midst of this pain, there is hope and a divine plan waiting to unfold.

In this powerful episode, we discuss the concept of trusting God when our dreams die. We explore how, in those dark moments, it may seem impossible to envision life as anything other than what we had dreamed. But here's the remarkable truth: God has a bigger plan in store for us.

With compassion and insight, I walk alongside you, sharing personal stories and exploring how to navigate the journey of letting go and embracing the new path ahead. We learn how to trust that God will either give us something even better than what we imagined or resurrect that dream in a different season, when the timing is just right.

Join us as we delve into the deep well of faith, discussing the challenges and lessons of surrendering our dreams to God. We draw from real-life experiences and the wisdom found in scripture to provide guidance for those grappling with the loss of a dream.

By the end of this episode, you'll feel empowered to lean on your faith, to trust in God's divine plan, and to find hope in the midst of disappointment. You'll discover that even in the face of shattered dreams, there is a promise of redemption and new beginnings.

Tune in to the Higher Pursuit Podcast today to gain insights, find solace, and discover the strength to repurpose your dead dreams into something beautiful. Remember, even when our dreams die, there is always something extraordinary waiting to unfold.

Follow me at: linktr.ee/cecily.lachapelle

Transcript

Hi. And thank you for joining the Higher Pursuit podcast. I'm Cecily LaChapelle. If this is your first time tuning in, then I'd love you to know that higher pursuit ministries. And this podcast exist to bring prophetic clarity to the word of God. So that people can be established in firm faith to effectively apply the word of God to their lives and to grow in their intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. So today's podcast, we're gonna be talking about the second chapter in my soon to be released book called Repurpose Your Pain. And the second chapter is called Repurpose Your Dead Dreams. Wow, that's such a heavy topic. Have you ever had a dream that died? I know I have on more than one occasion and when we have a dream that dies, we can't imagine how life is ever going to be what we thought, what we expected. I think the first time that I experienced this was when my parents got divorced. I was in high school, I was away at boarding school and I did not realize the full impact that that divorce was going to have until I came back from boarding school for the first vacation and all my mom's stuff was gone and she had moved into her own apartment and our house wasn't our home anymore. And my dad was sitting there like a shell of a man. Both of my parents were miserable and I went over to my mom's apartment. I'm like, what are you doing in here? You don't belong here. This is weird and she desperately wanted me to feel comfortable. She wanted me to make myself at home. And I thought I can never be at home here. I recognize this furniture. I recognize these things, but you are out of context. You belong at my house where I am with dad. And even though I was a teenager and I felt like I was all grown up. That child on the inside of me crumbled and I thought I'm never going to have that again. As miserable as my parents were all growing up and yelling at each other and all the negativity that was in our home all those years. It was still my family. It was dysfunctional but it was my familiar. And so when that was gone, that was a major dream that died. I remember being a kid and one of my friend's parents went through divorce and I remember thinking, that has got to be the worst. She talked about how she and her siblings had to go over to her dad's and visit her dad at his apartment. And then I remember how, when her mother started dating someone else, we were all like this is so weird. You know, Mrs. So and so you're Mrs so and so you're not somebody's girlfriend, like it was just bizarre and when dreams that important die, it can be absolutely earth shattering. And you don't know how you will ever go on, how life will ever be right again, how life will ever be full of joy again? because that dream was pivotal to our being able to feel joy and peace and fulfillment and satisfaction in our life, certain important relationships or achievements, things that we have just meditated on and imagined ourselves being or doing or having if we achieve those things or we have those relationships or we have those people in our lives and then all of a sudden they're gone, it pulls the rug out from underneath us. Have you ever experienced that? Have you had a dream die? Whether it is an actual death of a person close to you. I, I have a friend whose child passed away and I can't imagine because she's always dreamt about being a mother and wanting to be a mom. The second major dream that died for me was my own divorce. All my life growing up, all I ever wanted to be was a wife and a mother. I went to a very competitive boarding school, very prestigious boarding school in Connecticut. And I was surrounded by young women who were motivated, goal oriented, driven. They were going to be the first female CEO of Procter and Gamble. I mean, this is a long time ago. There's probably been many since then.  They were going to be the next president. They were going to be a marathoner or an Olympic athlete. I mean, they had these massive goals and they were so smart. They were going on to Ivy League Colleges and I was just looking around thinking I just want to be at home with kids. I felt so out of place. And then I ended up by getting married very young and having Children very young. And I had four beautiful Children and I was so happy as a stay at home mom doing the mom thing, making cookies and costumes and, and all the things. I was thrilled in that role. Now our marriage was not great and it was not healthy and it wasn't until 13 years into our marriage that I realized how unhappy my husband was and that he was planning to leave and leave he did. And left me as a single mom with four kids. That was a complete and utter death of a dream that I had held in my heart from childhood. Our biological family crumbled. My marriage crumbled. I felt like I had failed the most important people in my life. And I couldn't imagine how I would ever be happy again. I remember walking around the house that we were renting at the time in the middle of the night two AM three AM not able to sleep. Feeling like this is it. My life is over at from this point on it's survival. I'm just gonna do what I can do to keep my Children afloat, to try to somehow help them to feel some small bit of joy somehow to try to help them at least be happy. But I myself, I will never be happy again. I will never have joy. I will never have peace. I really didn't think that there was ever going to be another chapter after this chapter in my life. Have you ever had a dream die and feel like this is it. This is my life is over. There aren't going to be any more happy chapters after this. Have you felt stuck in that season of loss. I know that I was wrestling with that and I would have become stuck there if it wasn't for the fact that I had this amazing relationship with Jesus Christ. And every single day I would grab my Bible and my coffee and I'd have to wake up super early because my kids were early risers and I would go down with my coffee and my Bible and my journal and I would pour out my sadness. I would pour out my grief. I would pour out the loss. I would pour out my fear for the future and my uncertainties. I mean, what, what lies ahead of me as a single mom of four kids. I was a wreck. I was so nervous. How am I gonna provide? And I would pour it all out to the Lord and then I would read the word and I would hear his voice, speak to my heart and he would speak to me so clearly that he had me. he never pulled back the curtain to say, don't worry, don't be sad about this because behind door number two, I have all these other things for you. No, I had to walk by faith into my future, trusting that God was good, trusting that he was, he had me and my kids trusting that there would come a day when my broken heart would heal and it did heal. I had to stay intimately close with Jesus though. And he did heal my heart. One of the things that I write about in the book is that I found that there's two God has two responses in how he works with us to repurpose the pain of dead dreams. Either that dream dies and the Lord brings it back to life like Lazarus at another time, or that dream dies and in the right season, he gives us something better. Now. You might be in a season right now where you can't imagine either of those two scenarios. You can't imagine how God could bring that dream back to life for you, or you can't imagine how we would give you anything better. And I understand that, I completely understand that. But all I can do is encourage you don't stay stuck in the pain because it is hard after we have suffered that loss of a dream that is so important to us. It is so hard to lift up our eyes in faith to the Lord and get up again. there is a season for sitting in the ashes, so to speak when it seems like everything in our life has burned down around us and there is a time to grieve. There is a time to mourn. There is a time to be held by the Lord to mourn over this thing that may never come back exactly that way. In the situation with my divorce, my Children never got their biological family back. I never got the biological close connected Christ centered stick together ride or die marriage that I thought I would have with their father. I anticipated having a, a Godly heritage where we would be sitting in our rockers on the front porch watching our biological Children and grandchildren and maybe even great grandchildren playing together, dining together, having holidays together and serving the Lord together. And when that dream was ripped away, I knew that God would never be able to replace it. Exactly the way it had been. When we lose somebody out of our lives that we love to death, we know that that person is not coming back. So there has to be a, a grieving for the dream that died, that cannot be resurrected the way that it was. And that is a hard time. It's a hard road to go through. But the Lord will walk with us through that. The Bible tells us that Jesus is a very present help in time of trouble that he is close to the brokenhearted. He was close to me and he'll be close to you. He's not afraid of your grief. He's not afraid of you even being angry at him, shaking your fist and saying, why, why did this happen to me? Why did I have to lose my family? Why did I have to lose that important job or that opportunity? Why did I have to lose that relationship or that person that I loved? He understands the Lord understands. But let me encourage you. My friend don't stay stuck there. It's so easy to make that place of grief and loss our familiar place. We don't like it. We want to feel happy, we want to feel joyful, but we refuse to lift our eyes up again in hope. When the Lord says, ok, it's time, it's time to stand up and it's time to move forward. It's time to walk through the door into a new season, into new opportunities that I have for you into new pastures, green pastures. The Lord will reconstruct our life and bring joy and bring fulfillment and bring satisfaction. You will laugh again. You will love again. You will have joy again. I promise you if you let the Lord heal your heart and help you repurpose your pain into that deep conviction that he is going to do one of two things. He's either going to resurrect that dream at the right time in the right way or he's gonna bring you something better. And I know it's hard to imagine like I said, either of those two scenarios, but only God can do it. Only God can and he will. And so many of the times our losses are working something in us that God can use. He didn't bring about that pain. He didn't send it. He didn't cause it because we live in a fallen world where sinful people hurt us. We hurt ourselves and where death happens. But the Lord says that he will work all things together, all things, the good, the bad and the ugly. He'll work them together for our good. Well, I pray that you will lift your eyes to the Lord and let him heal your heart. Ok? When we're in a season of loss, it's easy to feel like we're never gonna have joy again and we can't see how life without that relationship or this person or this dream will ever be fulfilling or good. We can't see how we will ever feel whole again. Do you ever feel stuck in a season and feel like this is a forever deal like your life will never be anything other than a big loss. Maybe you're struggling with illness or a debilitation that seems to be going on and on and seems to be stealing the dreams that you had for your life right now. Maybe you're dealing with the loss of a loved one or a relationship and you don't see how you're ever going to feel joy after this loss. Maybe you blew apart your own life and you don't feel worthy to dream again. Do you define yourself now by the season that you're in? Like, do you define yourself as a widow, childless, abandoned, rejected, unemployed, uneducated, unworthy? Have you been tempted to think that this season that you're in is the final chapter and that there's no hope for change anymore. God in His faithfulness will do something in you and for you that you can't imagine, he will bring a new day. He will bring a new season. I can't tell you when and I can't tell you how, but I can tell you that God is very clear that there are seasons in our lives. And if you are in a season of loss, if you are in a season where you are watching a dream die, or you just watched a dream die and you're standing on the other side of that wreckage, holding the pieces of your life in your hands. Then you need to hear this word of encouragement and comfort. You need to hear me tell you that God can take those pieces and He can make something beautiful out of it. He can show you how to repurpose your pain into firm faith in Him. He can do it and he will do it. If you stay close to him and listen to his voice, let him soothe your heart. You don't have to do anything, just come to him and he'll do all the work. He'll do all the work in your heart. He'll do all the healing. Just open the door. Don't stay closed off from him. Don't stay closed off from the people that he brings across your life to help you to hold you to support you and then don't turn the, turn a deaf ear to him or to the people he sends. When people start telling you it's time, it's time to get up. It's time to hope again. It's time to dream again. It's time to turn the page to a new chapter in your life where you begin to see and experience the fullness of what God has for you. Well, that's all for today. I hope that this piqued your interest in the book, repurpose your pain because believe me, I didn't even touch the content in the chapter. There is so much more in the chapter that I look forward to you reading and I look forward to hearing your feedback on it. Well, if you enjoy this content, if it spoke to you in any way, then I hope that you will subscribe to this podcast in whatever format you're listening to it, whether it's on Apple Music or Spotify or youtube. However, you're listening to this podcast, I hope that you will like and comment and subscribe so that you can be notified of all future content that I post. Thank you. So much for tuning in until next time.