Where do I go to give up?

When I was in undergraduate one of my professors always put a cartoon on the screen before beginning lecture. One day in the middle of the semester he put up a Peanuts cartoon. Seated behind her psychiatric desk Lucy waited to dispense her 5 cents worth of wisdom. Charlie Brown sat down depressed and asked her a question I would dare say we have all asked at one time. "Where do I go to give up?" Sound familiar, have you ever just plopped down in your chair, or on the ground or wherever you found yourself and asked that very question.
A few years ago, I tried bringing my dream to pass without checking the timing of my Father, can we say epic failure. I wasn't in the place I needed to be spiritually, nor was I surrounded by people who had the same vision I did, and the last piece missing was a support network for my own emotional and spiritual needs. The result FAILURE, and hurt people. Walking away from that failure I found myself like the men on the Emmaus road in Luke 24. They were hurt, confused, wondering if they had just missed the will of the Father, were they deceived by Christ, He was dead, and they were just depressed. I could so relate to that feeling.
Although their feelings lasted but a moment, mine lasted for 4 years, as I wandered around like a lost pup, hurt, dazed and confused thinking that I had destroyed that dream, hurt the Father and others beyond repair, so I settled into the feelings that this was all there was. Then God sent me a wake up call, and reminded me that like the Prodigal son, I was His, and that forgiveness was only a prayer away. I didn't need to hear that call twice, and I returned home and found His love and forgiveness was more than I had even preached about earlier. He healed issues in my life that I had struggled with for years, and I experienced His power in a way I had never known.
Then the issue of the dream came up again. My pastor preached on 1 Corinthians 7:23-24. He reminded me I was called by grace, I had been chosen. Secondly he said live in your calling. "Get hold of your unlikely dreams and go after them." I thought easy for you to say, you didn't fail to the degree I did, and as publicly.
That is until I read the text in Luke. Christ reminded the men that He had to suffer and die to bring about their salvation and enter into His glory. The Spirit, spoke softly to me and reminded me that the path I walked wasn't a surprise to the Father, and that the experiences I had gotten there was part of my education, so that I could truly do that I was called to do.
I know I spent a lot of time on my background, but I wonder if you can relate? Has God given you a dream, or put something special in you and the enemy has convinced you it will never happen. Can I be transparent with you, DON'T GIVE IN!!! Be reminded that if Christ started a work in you He will complete that work. We don't get to give up in this army, like the Marines, Christ won't leave a solider behind to be captured and tortured by the enemy, but He will bring us to Himself, and heal us and make us the soldiers He called us to be, until we get to go home and rest for all eternity.

I'll be praying for you and I hope you are praying for me. Please leave me comments to know if this has helped, or send me your prayer requests to pastorstansberry@gmail.com.

Grace and Peace be multiplied to you.
Eric