Road Block or Rest Stop?

Ever wonder why things never turn out like YOU planned? Well these past few days God has reveled to me and my husband why the best laid plans go astray. You have seen from my previous blogs that my family and I have a purpose to fulfill. We have laid out a plan about how to get prepared to do that purpose. We were following our plan step for step then something didn’t go as planned. Of course when that happened our flesh began to throw up all kinds of doubt and red flags. Are we sure this is what God is asking of us? If this is his plan for us why didn’t this next step happen? Maybe we aren’t equipped to handle this? You know the kind of doubt Satan loves to throw at us. When doubt tries to arise we go to the master. We begin fasting and praying in order to get our flesh into submission and our spirit more focused. We dig deep into the word of God in order to better understand him. These past few days have produced the answers we have needed. First, God doesn’t call you for a job that you will not be able to perform.  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Phil 4:13 (KJV) He will give you what you need when you need it. Second, Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalms 27:14 (KJV) I used to think this meant wait for God to step in and do it all. That is not the case at all. If your like me you read wait, I say, on the LORD and stop. The rest of the verse states he will strengthen us while we wait. Waiting is in a sense preparing for what is ahead. We have to strengthen our faith and heart for the battle that lies ahead. The last thing I have realized these past few days is WE have planned out how WE are going to achieve what GOD has planned for us. I capitalized WE and GOD for a reason. God has a PLAN for us. WE don’t need to do anything but REST in the will of GOD. When we let our flesh try to plan for something that our spirit needs to do we are asking for failure. Jesus told us exactly what we need to do in order to prepare ourselves. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matt 26:41 (KJV) How can we expect our sinful flesh to produce something spiritual? So do not be discouraged when your best laid plans fall apart. They are nowhere near as good as the plans that God has made for you.

A Lesson In Empathy

A friend of mine asked me to teach her Sunday School class today. Her class is the Teens so I was confident I could handle it. As I was preparing the lesson for this morning, I begin to think of all the things that the typical Christian teenager must face today. I must say this began to discourage me. It made me think of how much things have changed since I was a teenager. I began to think of what a teen today would need spiritually in order to be equipped to handle the stresses of day to day life. I figured the best thing to do would be to try and place myself in their shoes. I found this to be a very scary place. The pressures they feel today seem unbearable to me. Drugs, sexual immorality, and peer pressure are still around but a much more scarier thing has surfaced. The dark world of witchcraft and darkness. Hollywood has portrayed these things as cool and even normal. It makes me shudder to think that the next generation is being brought up to think these things are cool, normal, and not unusual. The Christian teen has so much more stacked against them than previous generations have. Their fight brings this scripture into mind "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places Eph 6:12 (KJV)" They truly do fight against darkness and wickedness in a way we will never understand. So in preparing a lesson for them, I was taught a lesson in empathy. I see the fight that lies ahead for them and will pray for them daily.

The First Step

When you ask someone what is their purpose in life your answers will be diverse. Some may state their purpose with utmost assurance. Some will say they have no idea. Then, you will have those that say they are still trying to figure it out. Our family falls under the latter category. We are sure of our purpose and what God wants us to do. We are just not so sure how to go about fulfilling it. Thus begins our first step on our journey. I have decided to start a blog first and foremost to keep up with our progress. Secondly, maybe it will help someone else who is also starting their journey with God. I believe we are all put here on earth to serve a purpose for the Lord. Whether or not we fulfill or ignore that purpose is up to us. So I would like to leave you with a thought. What are you doing today to move toward fulfilling your purpose? Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step!