Owning your own home has long been the cornerstone of the American dream but, sadly, that dream is fading fast for many families.

Freddie Mac is a government sponsored mortgage program that has made home ownership possible for many aspiring home buyers. But with mortgage rates rising past many families’ ability to pay, some forecasters predict that as much as one out of five families may lose their homes—and with that, their dreams of owning their own place in the sun. How will people cope with the disappointment—the loss of a dream?

Paula Rinehart, author of the new book, “Better Than My Dreams,” says the loss of a dream can be the gateway, the invitation to deepen our lives, beyond mere money or material dreams.

According to Paula, people who either suffer great sudden losses or loss or dreams find themselves at a crossroads that either allows them to find a rich new spiritual life that previously alluded them, or accepting an existence filled with regrets, devoid of the rich possibilities God had in store for them if they only took the time to look up and see the forest for the trees.

In Paula’s new book, Better Than my Dreams, Finding What You Long For Where You Might Not Think to Look (Thomas Nelson Publishers, October 2007), she reveals that, though God’s dream for each of us is indeed different from the picture that we carry around inside us, it is actually better than our dreams.

I encourage you to hope and dream in 2008, despite what any economic pundit might forecast. God has a good plan for your life; plans to prosper you. He also promises to give us the desires of our heart if we delight ourselves in Him. So prophesy God’s Word over your life and watch your dreams come true. You are your own best prophet.