Are you a planner, Dear Reader? Do you like/crave having all the details accounted for well in advance? Maybe it's a family gathering. Perhaps it's an article you're writing. Or maybe you've gone all out and created your "strategic life plan".
Tom and I have been monitoring, adjusting, and working toward our retirement plan for a few years now. It feels good to have plans and see them accomplished, doesn't it?
Tom and I have been monitoring, adjusting, and working toward our retirement plan for a few years now. It feels good to have plans and see them accomplished, doesn't it?
Apparently, there are more than a few of us who like to plan ahead. When I did a Google Search for "life plan", I got over 460 million hits in less than a minute. Oh my gosh, that makes it sound like we are obsessed with planning and knowing what the future holds.
Great news, Dear Reader! We don't have to drive ourselves nuts wondering or worrying about our futures. God's got us covered:
Great news, Dear Reader! We don't have to drive ourselves nuts wondering or worrying about our futures. God's got us covered:
For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29: 11 AMP
Did you catch that, Dear Reader? "Plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster"?
God isn't making carbon copy, one size fits all plans for us. He's designed ones filled with what will specifically provide peace and well-being for each of us.
Okay, reality check time. What about the "not for disaster" clause? I know, I get it. Lifetime promise and short-term marriage with the love of your life. Breast cancer. The loss of a child. The loss of a home.
My longing, trusting heart does not believe the Lord sits in heavenly places concocting disasters in our lives. Instead, I believe He is problem-solving on how He can use Satan's torments to draw us closer to Him.
God isn't making carbon copy, one size fits all plans for us. He's designed ones filled with what will specifically provide peace and well-being for each of us.
Okay, reality check time. What about the "not for disaster" clause? I know, I get it. Lifetime promise and short-term marriage with the love of your life. Breast cancer. The loss of a child. The loss of a home.
My longing, trusting heart does not believe the Lord sits in heavenly places concocting disasters in our lives. Instead, I believe He is problem-solving on how He can use Satan's torments to draw us closer to Him.
He delivers the afflicted by their affliction,
and opens their ear by adversity.
Job 36:15 RSV
And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans.
Romans 8: 28
Wow! From the guy's book about losing seemingly EVERYTHING, to the guy sitting in a gross prison cell waiting to be executed, God's plans are for good, not for disaster.
Not only that, but the Lord has been with us from the very beginning. Before we knew which way was up, the Lord's hand has been upon us. I love the picture the Old Testament prophet, Hosea, paints for us!
Not only that, but the Lord has been with us from the very beginning. Before we knew which way was up, the Lord's hand has been upon us. I love the picture the Old Testament prophet, Hosea, paints for us!
“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son...
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them by the arms...
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts
a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.
Hosea 11: 1, 3a, 4 NIV
The Lord has a comprehensive life plan, from start to finish, lined out for each of us. And to make sure we got it, He sent His Son to tell us.
25 Here is the bottom line: do not worry about your life. Don’t worry about what you will eat or what you will drink. Don’t worry about how you clothe your body. Living is about more than merely eating, and the body is about more than dressing up. 26 Look at the birds in the sky. They do not store food for winter. They don’t plant gardens. They do not sow or reap—and yet, they are always fed because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are even more precious to Him than a beautiful bird. If He looks after them, of course He will look after you.
Matthew 25-26 VOICE
Dear Reader, I pray you are enjoying the "peace and well-being" of the plan the Lord designed for your life.
Maybe you're like me, still trying to figure out His plan, or in a "not for disaster" time (even if it feels like it is). Let us grab hold of all the trust we have and rejoice that He hasn't forgotten us, He has a plan for each of us, and it includes many more amazing things just for us.
Maybe you're like me, still trying to figure out His plan, or in a "not for disaster" time (even if it feels like it is). Let us grab hold of all the trust we have and rejoice that He hasn't forgotten us, He has a plan for each of us, and it includes many more amazing things just for us.
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