You want to make GOD laugh ? Tell him YOUR plans. This probably makes him really roll with laughter. My Grandmother use to always say "If God Allows". I kind of thought that was a funny saying but i was young then and did not know the LESSON she was showing me whether she knew it or not just by speaking those Words in my presence. Even then she was showing me and teaching me about the Word of God and about the truth, which is that our lives and the number of days on this earth are all controlled by GOD. He allows things to happen at a certain time and he has set the beginning and the end of our lives. He is the Author and finisher of our fate. He has the copyright on our lives from chapter ONE until the end.
My plans for this week were to attend two meetings with one of the many organizations i am involved in...along with going to work each day. Well,I MUST have forgotten that plans do not always go the way we have them formed on paper. Last Mon. when i woke up and dressed for work i had a terrible pain in my neck .I went to work with that pain in my neck and then i came home. It got so bad i had to go to the ER,where i was given a diagnosis of a damaged nerve,and given muscle relaxers and pain pills. WELL this did not stop the pain so the next day i was back at the ER again having missed work that day. To make a long story short, i went back to the ER expecting to come back home and that did not happen. I ended up unexpectedly admitted into the hospital and having major surgery. In the process i also ended up with a blood clot in my arm causing me to have to sit still for several days. This was not part of my plans..BUT as Paul advises in the WORD OF GOD, PHILLIPIANS 4:11-13'Not that i speak in respect of want; for i have learned ,in whatsoever state i am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and i know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
In January 2008 when we walked out of church it was with a feeling of HOPE...of CHANGE...of GREAT EXPECTATIONS...Well what we did not realize is that CHANGE can come and you can grow from things in the form of TRIBULATIONS. We have had so much change in our lives. It has not changed in the way we wanted but I truly believe that GOD has a purpose for this that is GOOD and it will be for our spiritual maturity. The plans for our life were all good and full of what we thought were the answers to keeping our future secure in all aspects of our lives. Well again, you can make plans but things can be changed...sometimes we cause these changes our selves. It is so important to ask GOD first then be still so you can HEAR his answer. Pray so you can see with your spiritual vision. Things are viewed differently with the physical than with the spiritual. No matter what it looks like we must know it is spiritual warfare ALWAYS. I believe that although some of our decisions have put us in this place GOD will allow us to come out of this place if we just stand and wait on him.
I EXPECT GOD to bring us through. I EXPECT us to grow closer to him and by doing so to grow closer and closer spiritually to each other. PLANS can always change they are not guaranteed so i have learned that no matter what you plan it is most imperative that you recognize the control of GOD in our lives..and say ' IF GOD ALLOWS!' My Grandmother gave me a jewel in those words i wonder if she knows that. She planted something in me with those words. The greatest example of how plans can be changed by GOD'S INTERVENTION has to be the story of Saul on his ride down the DAMASCUS ROAD. He was armed with orders and had plans to carry those out. He had intentions and he meant to carry them out. He had plans to do what he thought was GOD'S WILL in persecuting Christians. BUT GOD....GOD changed all those plans for Saul . He changed the plans for his life for the REST OF HIS LIFE. He never planned to go forth in the name of JESUS, He never planned to preach the gospel to the gentiles and win souls for CHRIST, He never planned to be persecuted for the sake of JESUS NAME, He never planned to have to confess that HE WAS PRESENT at the stoning of Stephen BUT GOD had other plans. ALL that he went thru still caused him to WIN THE VICTORY OF ETERNAL LIFE IN THE END. He went thru because he knew that even though he was the LEAST worthy of the honor GOD gave it to him. He went through gladly for the prize of the HIGH CALLING and i along with my husband and my child will go through also. I only pray that I do so in a manner pleasing to GOD.
