“How can my dream possibly be from God when I keep meeting so much resistance?” My friend’s question hit home.  There are times in life when we sincerely believe God has placed a special hope or dream in our heart–only to face merciless opposition. Surely God would make the path to our dream a little easier if it’s truly from Him, right? Maybe not.

A wise and godly man once said this to me when I asked him why my dream seemed to be such an uphill climb:  “What if God has called you to this mountain top—this dream you hold so dearly?  Perhaps He knows you must be trained by the difficult climb up the mountain so you won’t be crushed by the weight of the glory when the dream comes to pass.”

I had to admit, his words rang true.  And through the years, I’ve observed some whose dream came true before they had built their character to hold up under the “weight of the glory.” More than one has fallen into pride or defeat.  It’s no wonder the Bible teaches us about the wonderful blessing of hope within the context of both character and suffering:

“We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:3-5 ESV).

It’s wonderful to have hopes and dreams—even lofty, world changing ones. But let’s remind ourselves:  Humans aren’t built for glory–it doesn’t “agree” with us. So as we experience the glory of a dream that finally comes true, let’s remember to rejoice and enjoy the moment;  to be thankful to God; and to give Him the glory.

And when we bump headlong into those inevitable times of suffering along the path toward our dream, may we dare to rejoice and thank God that the suffering is training us to endure, which produces character, which gives birth to hope.  His glorious promise is that “hope doesn’t disappoint us” (Romans 5:5 NIV).