His plans are not my plans

I was trying to think about what to write about this week and I realized today that I have an issue that I am looking for a solution for and I remembered that we created a scrapbook page not too long ago that spoke to this very thing.

The page that we created was about the direction God takes us.  We all have a plan for our lives.  God created that plan!  Sometimes we think we are the creator of the plan and we try to make our lives fit the mold that we think it should.  We try to open doors that God closes, we try to take advantage of “opportunities” that do not fit into our God created plan, we try to convince Him our plan is best.  Sometimes we step back and ask God,  “What do you want me to do?”  Sometimes we feel a clear answer and sometimes we sense silence.  Sometimes all He wants us to do is to lean into Him and be obedient.

We do not know what God has in store for us tomorrow.  I never would have imagined that I would be a stay at home mom, write a blog, lead a prayer group, lead a scrapbooking group, move into the city…..  I think I had a much more boring life planned for myself.  God has moved in my life beyond my expectations and I know that He has more planned and I want to follow His plan not my own.

One thing I can always count on is that God’s plan is always the best.  He knows me better than I know myself.  He knows all the details that are involved in my life and the lives of people around me.  He knows EVERYTHING!!!  I on the other hand know very little.  I seem to know less and less every day or maybe I am just more aware of how little I know.  If I trust Him and am obedient to Him then I have nothing to fear.  He will take me to places that are uncomfortable.  I will resist ( I know this because I frequently do).  I will delay obedience.  He is patient with me and He knows the sin I deal with and the temptations that I struggle with and He knows when I will be obedient and He knows that I will eventually be grateful for His leading.  He is always right!   I am not as apt to take the chances that have made my life so amazing I have taken them because He led me to them and through them.

I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.  I look forward to the next steps in God’s path for my life and the lives of my family and friends.

On the red squares I wrote what my plans were and on the brown squares I wrote what God did in showing me His plans.  Proverbs 16:9 was the title for my page.  In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

Excuses

Hello everyone,

I promised a few weeks ago we would talk about excuses we make for not sharing the Lord with others and then I went AWAL.  Sorry about that. 

Here are the pages we did where we talked about excuses that we make for not sharing Christ with others.  I am sure there are a hundred excuses we make but we don’t have room for all of them on a scrapbook page so I just focused on five of the most frequent.

I had many excuses for not sharing that I held onto for a long time.  The first and most embarrassing one was that I didn’t want people to think I was weird.  Oddly, I have never felt like I was the type of person who needed to fit in and didn’t feel, consciously, that I wanted or needed the approval of others but I guess we all do to some extent.  I felt uncomfortable talking about God and salvation because I had always viewed people who talked openly about God as weird.  I did have some friends that I spoke to about spiritual things and about God but that was different to me.  It seemed that there were people that were close to you who you could talk to about their beliefs and people who were always trying to change you.  The people who shared life with me and didn’t preach at me were the people who I respected and enjoyed hearing about their faith even when I didn't agree.  As I share my faith with others this is still the way I feel most comfortable sharing; with people I have a relationship with.

Another reason that I did not share Christ with others is that I believed that faith was a personal journey.  While this has some value to it, I now know that God does not give us anything so that we can keep it for ourselves.  He gives us everything we have; our gifts, our finances, our jobs, our kids, our spouses, our friends and our faith.  He does not share with us so that we can hoard for our own purposes.  He gives us everything so that we can share with others for the glory of HIS kingdom.  One of my bible study leaders once asked me whom I interacted with that I truly wanted them to go to Hell.  My answer is no one.  I love all of God’s people and desire them all to feel the joy that I feel because of my relationship with the Lord.  It saddens me to know that there are people around me who don’t know the Lord and can’t know the joy that He brings to our lives on this earth and after.  Why would I keep that knowledge from them and not give them the opportunity to accept His salvation and be an active member of His kingdom. 

Ezekiel 3:18-19   If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

Another excuse that I had is that I didn’t know enough theology or have enough knowledge of the bible.  Anyone that knows me knows that I am not an academic person.   My dad used to love to read textbooks and learn about things all his life.  I prefer to learn by living.  I like to be out with people, be out in nature, do things rather than read about things.  I will never be a scholarly person.  Thankfully, the Lord blessed me with some wisdom and blesses me continually as I seek out Him and His will.  Otherwise I would be a mess.  I learn from experience and He knows that because He created me.  He gives me the ability to share Him and His love through experiences.  As many people as there are out there who need to come to a knowledge of Him through academic learning there are just as many people like me who need to hear stories of how God has changed lives, blessed families, taught through struggles and hardships. 

God made each and every one of us different and so He reaches each of us in a different way.  We just need to make sure that we are being obedient to His will each day.  It’s hard to believe that we can be in His will and not share about Him with others.