Psalm 33:11 "But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations."
Several times this week I have been made aware of friends whose lifes have taken different turns that what they had thought their lifes would be. It is devastating when this happens as none of us are prepared for such changes. Especially when our minds, our hearts have our life all mapped out, to what we think our lifes will be like. It truly made me stop and look back at my life and actually had to smile as I know now that my plans had no real basis as my life was then and always has been in the hands of the Lord, and His plans have always been the basis for who He made me to be. The Word says in Psalm 33:10-11 "The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples..but the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." I do not believe that the Lord caused the events to happen, but I believe He used them for His glory, and in these events used them to cause me to grow, to experience what His love is, and His mercy, His grace, how real He is when we give ourselves to Him.
As I look back and realize that the mistakes I made were the opportunity that the Lord took to show me His love and His mercy on my life, His protection of my life. The tragedies, the Lord drew me to Himself and gave me comfort, so much love, and used those tragedies to strengthen me, to secure me in His love. I have learned that nothing that happens goes to waste. In all things I have found the Lord can turn to good for those that love Him. The good in them comes when He can use those things to give us the strength we need to get through things, He uses them to give us real foundation; to show us that even though the earth may shake some, as long as we are in Him, we will not topple over. We will stand firm in Him. His plans for us are so perfect. But we do not get to see those plans until we surrender to Him completely; until He knows that we are His alone and we are not going away from Him. That through everything that happens to us, we do not blame Him for it, but turn to Him for His counsel, His strength, His peace. Then the real walk begins. When we know for sure that He is leading us, that the decisions we make are made in Him and that when we fillow His plan, nothing will happen to us. We are safe in Him.
Sharp turns happen. Things happen daily to people that had no idea what the day held when they got up in the morning. This world can deal us some disastrous blows, but we have a hope in our Lord. He gives us hope in Him; He gives us glorious hope of tomorrow. We will not always understand why things happen. I have learned not to question, even when I don't like what is happening, and my Lord knows I don't like it. But I do not question Him. I know that His plans for me are to better me, to give me a future, to give me blessing after blessing. As long as we live in the physical we will have pain, disappointment and heartache. But our spiritual man, our souls, as long as they are focused on our Lord, on God Almighty, we will grow through the pain, we will gain strength from the disappointments and we will regain peace and joy despite the heartache. And the Lord will use all these things for us to help someone we meet going through the things we have been through. Our Lord will be glorified through us, through our experiences as we help others in His Name.
"In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." The Lord's Word shows us that He knows what we will face, and He wants us to know from the first that He has overcome everything. Jesus went to the cross, He faced everything we will ever face; rejection, pain, heartache, physical and mental abuse, but He overcame the world so we could be free from all these things. It does not mean we won't have them, but we don't have to stay in them. We are free to live in Him. We are free to go on to the next day and leave the pain behind us. We are free from condemnation from others that the enemy uses to beat us down. We are free to leave heartache behind and rest in His love and peace. We are free to walk His way, the way He has planned for us.
When the path takes a sharp turn, look to our Lord Jesus. Let Him take you by the hand and lead you on His path, it is straight, although narrow, but the Light that glows on the path clears the way and with His hand holding yours, you will not fall. His way. His path. His Light. You, His beloved, in His hands.
12-27-11
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