What Do I Do When I Feel Like Giving Up on My Dream?

What Do I Do When I Feel Like Giving Up on My Dream?

Maybe there was once something you believed God was calling you to do.

A ministry.
A business.
A career.
A family.
An opportunity.

A vision for your future that seemed so clear at one point.

But then life happened.

Doors closed. People disappointed you. The timeline stretched longer than you expected.

Maybe you’ve experienced enough setbacks that you’ve quietly started giving up on your
dream.

During this special message at Forward Church, our guest speaker, Neil Kennedy, took us
through the life of Joseph and reminded us that God’s dreams rarely unfold in a straight line.

Joseph had a dream.
Then came the pit.
Slavery.
False accusations.
Prison.
Being forgotten.

And eventually, the palace.

But the palace wasn’t the most important thing God produced through Joseph’s journey.

Joseph himself was.

Have You Settled Somewhere God Never Intended You to Stay?

Before looking at Joseph, the message went back several generations to Abraham’s family.

Genesis tells us that Abraham’s father, Terah, began traveling toward Canaan. However, when
the family reached Haran, they settled there.

The destination was still ahead of them.

They simply stopped moving.

Then God called Abraham to continue the journey.

That creates an important question for us:

Have we settled somewhere God intended us to pass through?

Sometimes settling doesn’t look like rebellion.

It looks like comfort.
Fear.
Disappointment.
Exhaustion.

Or simply deciding we’ve gone far enough.

God may order our steps, but we still have to take them.

What Happens When Other People Don’t Understand Your Dream?

Joseph’s brothers didn’t celebrate his dreams.

They despised him for them.

Eventually, when they saw him approaching, they referred to him simply as “that dreamer” and
plotted against him.

Not everyone will understand what God has placed in your heart.

And not everyone needs access to it.

One of the lessons from Joseph’s life is that maturity requires discernment about who we trust
with the things God has given us.

That doesn’t mean becoming suspicious of everyone around us.

It means recognizing that a dream sometimes needs time to develop before it needs an
audience.

The Process Is Producing Something in You

Joseph’s dream didn’t immediately lead him to influence.

It led him into a process.

After his brothers betrayed him, Joseph was sold into slavery and eventually placed in
Potiphar’s household.

Yet even there, Scripture says God was with Joseph and what he did prospered.

While Joseph probably wanted the dream fulfilled, God was preparing him for it.

In Potiphar’s house, Joseph learned stewardship.

He learned management.

He learned how the Egyptian economy worked.

Later, in prison, he learned to lead difficult people and manage another environment.

None of those places looked like the dream.

But every one of them prepared him for it.

What If the Dream Isn’t Actually the Goal?

This was one of the most important ideas in the message:

“The person you become is the goal.”

We often become so focused on arriving that we overlook what God is doing during the journey.

We want the promotion.

The ministry.
The business.
The marriage.
The breakthrough.
The opportunity.

God cares about those things, but He also cares deeply about the person who will arrive there.

Can you carry what you’re asking Him for?

Do you have the character for it?

Have you developed the wisdom to steward it?

Sometimes God’s preparation takes longer because what He wants to do in us is necessary for
what He wants to do through us.

Your Integrity Matters More Than Your Appetite

Joseph eventually faced another defining moment.

Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce him.

Joseph could have compromised.

Instead, he ran.

Why?

Because his purpose mattered more than temporary pleasure.

Every meaningful calling eventually encounters a test of character.

There will be moments when something attractive threatens something valuable.

That’s when we have to decide which matters more.

As the message put it, Joseph valued his dream more than his pleasures, his purpose more
than his appetites, and his cause more than his cravings.

Sometimes pursuing God’s purpose means saying no to something we could have because we
value what He’s preparing us for more.

Can God Still Be With Me When Everything Goes Wrong?

Joseph did the right thing and still ended up in prison.

That’s difficult theology to live through.

We sometimes assume obedience should immediately produce easier circumstances.

Joseph’s story tells us otherwise.

He remained faithful and was falsely accused.

He honored God and lost his position.

Yet God’s presence never left him.

Even in prison, Joseph continued to prosper.

That’s because biblical prosperity is bigger than circumstances.

The message described prosperity as having “the means to fulfill your meaning.”

God’s favor wasn’t limited by Joseph’s location.

The pit couldn’t stop it.
Slavery couldn’t stop it.
Prison couldn’t stop it.

And the difficult season you’re walking through doesn’t automatically mean God has stopped
working in your life either.

Your Gift Isn’t Only About You

While in prison, Joseph encountered Pharaoh’s butler and baker.

Both had dreams they couldn’t understand.

Joseph could have become consumed with his own unanswered dream.

Instead, he used his gift to help someone else understand theirs.

That became part of his path forward.

This teaches us something important about our gifts.

Your gift isn’t necessarily your purpose.

As Neil Kennedy explained:

“Your gift is the usher to your purpose.”

God can use what He’s placed in you to serve others while simultaneously positioning you for
what comes next.

So while you’re waiting on your opportunity, serve.

Help someone else.

Use what God has already placed in your hands.

What Do I Do When God Makes Me Wait?

After Joseph interpreted the butler’s dream correctly, he might have expected his circumstances
to change quickly.

They didn’t.

The butler forgot him.

Joseph remained in prison for another two years.

Waiting can make us question everything.

Did I hear God correctly?
Did I miss something?
Has He forgotten me?

But waiting doesn’t necessarily mean the dream is dead.

Joseph’s story shows that God’s timing may include preparation we don’t yet understand.

Eventually, Pharaoh had a dream no one could interpret.

Suddenly, the forgotten prisoner was exactly the person the palace needed.

God Doesn’t Waste the Process

When Joseph finally stood before Pharaoh, everything he’d learned along the way mattered.

His ability to interpret dreams mattered.
His understanding of agriculture mattered.
His experience managing households mattered.
His leadership experience mattered.
His character mattered.

The pieces that seemed disconnected finally came together.

Pharaoh placed Joseph in authority over Egypt, and the young man who once dreamed of
leadership suddenly found himself helping lead one of the world’s greatest economies through
famine.

God had been preparing him long before Joseph could see where the preparation was leading.

Forgiveness Protects Your Future

Eventually, Joseph’s brothers arrived in Egypt looking for food.

The same men who had betrayed him now stood before him without recognizing who he had
become.

Joseph finally had the power to retaliate.

Instead, he forgave them.
That’s significant.

Joseph couldn’t allow yesterday’s betrayal to control tomorrow’s purpose.

Neither can we.

Unforgiveness keeps us tied to the people and circumstances that hurt us.

Forgiveness doesn’t pretend the betrayal didn’t happen.

It refuses to let that betrayal determine who we become.

What the Enemy Meant for Evil, God Can Redeem

At the end of Joseph’s story, he could finally see what he couldn’t see from the pit.

Genesis 50:20 records his words to his brothers:

What they intended for harm, God used for good and for the saving of many lives.

The dream was never simply about Joseph reaching a palace.

It was about people.

God positioned Joseph so that when famine came, lives could be preserved.

That’s why our dreams can’t only be about us.

God-given purpose ultimately serves something larger than personal success.

Maybe It’s Time to Dream Again

Some dreams haven’t disappeared.
We’ve simply stopped pursuing them.
Maybe disappointment made you quieter.

Maybe someone convinced you that you weren’t qualified.
Maybe you’ve been waiting so long that settling feels safer than hoping again.

The challenge from this message was simple:

Dream again.

You don’t have to announce it to everyone.

You don’t need to force the timing.

But you can begin preparing again.

Take the next step.

Develop your character.

Sharpen your gift.

Remain faithful.

Protect your integrity.

Forgive what needs to be forgiven.

And trust God with the process.

Closing

Joseph’s journey teaches us that the pit isn’t necessarily the end of the dream.

Neither is the prison.
Neither is betrayal.
Neither is waiting.

God can use every part of the journey to prepare us for what He has called us to do.

So if you’ve been giving up on your dream, don’t measure God’s faithfulness by where you’re
standing today.

Look at what He’s developing in you.

Then take the next faithful step.

Because sometimes the greatest thing God accomplishes through the pursuit of a dream isn’t
simply getting you to the destination.

It’s who you become along the way.