My guest blogger for this month is well-known Christian author and speaker Marcia Laycock of Canada. She writes about shattered dreams:
We are all dreamers – where we might live or travel to, of times with our children or grand-children, perhaps even of accolades and awards. Sometimes it feels like our dreams are close to coming true; other times our dreams are crushed. Our life looks like nothing but a pile of pointless efforts. We come close to giving up on all our dreams.
I wonder what state the disciples were in, when Jesus was crucified. Imagine the dreams the disciples had – dreams perhaps of an earthly kingdom that did not include the brutal rule of the Romans. Think what the disciples sacrificed – they left their homes, families, their livelihoods. They followed Jesus for three years – through difficult times, awe-filled experiences, grueling days and nights of constant crowds wanting to be healed or fed. And now what? Jesus was gone, and it looked like it had all been for nothing.
No wonder Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” He’d given up on the dream, so he went back to work, casting his nets, along with some of the other disciples. But, that night, they caught nothing. Early in the morning, when they were heading back to shore, a man on the beach calls out, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
Imagine the defeat in their voices when they answered, “No.” But, the stranger tells them to throw their nets on the right side of their boat. They complied, and the nets were so full, they couldn’t haul them in. That’s when they recognized Jesus!
Jesus has made a fire and was cooking breakfast. “Bring some of the fish you caught,” He said. They must have been bewildered as to what Jesus was trying to teach them. Could it be that He had more for them to do than just catching fish? That He would provide for them? That He had a plan? The rest of the story found in John 21 is just the beginning.
Yes, sometimes our dreams can look like they’re dead, but lift up your head. Jesus is near, with a better plan!
“God is always working to make His children aware of a dream that remains alive beneath the rubble of every shattered dream, a new dream that when realized will release a new song, sung with tears, till God wipes them away, and we sing with nothing but joy in our hearts.” Larry Crabb, noted author and counselor.
Marcia Laycock was raised on an island off the north shore of Lake Huron, ran away to Alaska and then the Yukon, had 
a “road to Mayo” conversion in 1982, leaped by faith into Briercrest Bible College with her husband in 1985 and landed in the “promised land” of central Alberta in 1988. She is an author and speaker for women’s retreats and one-day events. https://marcialeelaycock.com/