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Be encouraged with this
insight from the life of Abraham
and Joseph of how God is forming your
testimony.
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God’s Confusing Plans
Trusting God When His Plans Are Confusing
SHERRY
DAVIS
"For
I know the plans that I have for you" (Jeremiah
29:11a).
How many
times have I heard God speak that verse to me?
How many
times have I doubted it?
Maybe it's
because His plans aren't always my plans, or His ways of accomplishing those
plans aren't my ways of accomplishing those plans.
We know that
God loves us, but do we sometimes wonder if He "loves" us or is
"loving toward us" because of the things that we hope He will do and
He doesn't or the things that He allows to happen?
You may have
heard the story about the tapestry, but recently God made it come to life for
me in a way only He can do.
I was
thinking about some events that had happened to me that had made a negative
impact on my life. I felt like I was looking at the underside of a tapestry.
I was seeing
the knots that were there because of hard times, loose and broken threads
representing so many unfinished areas of my life and the crazy and unexplained
directions the threads had taken.
I was seeing
colors that I would never had chosen. It was not the tapestry that I would have
designed for my life.
And God gave
me His perspective. He showed me that even though I didn't choose some of those
things, He did or didn't as the case may be because He knew where He wanted me
to be at this stage of life.
For the
first time in my life, I was able to thank Him for those things. He knows us
better than we know ourselves and loves us with perfect love.
He sees what
we don't see, and He sees a beautiful tapestry that is being formed for His
glory and His purposes.
Two stories
from Genesis come to mind when I think of God's plans versus man's plans.
The first
story is when Abram was told that he would have a son from his own body that
would be his heir.
Perhaps
Abram was having a hard time wrapping his head around this because he had been
given no children. He was looking at his situation and putting God in that box.
God took him
"outside," and I'm sure it took Abram outside his box when God said, "Look
up toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them."
And He said
to him, "So will your descendants be." It was God's dream for
Abraham.
The second
story is of Joseph, who had been sold into slavery by his brothers.
There were
many years in prison and trials where Joseph faithfully served God. He was
promoted in Pharaoh's kingdom because of his character.
A famine
came, and his brothers went to Egypt seeking food.
When Joseph
revealed who he was to his brothers, he said, "I am your brother, Joseph,
whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be upset or angry with yourselves because
you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two
years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which
there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me ahead of you to
preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great
deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a
father to Pharaoh and lord of his entire household and a ruler throughout all
the land of Egypt" (Genesis 45:4b-8).
Just as
Joseph, some of those negative experiences in my life were used for His plans
and purposes.
God is a
Redeemer. He wants to rewrite our story. That happens when we say, "Let my story be Your story."
His story is
always better—sometimes more painful, but always better.
This brings
a rest because our heavenly Father is the one with the pencil. Oh, to have a
heart like Joseph where I let God take the pencil and write my story is my
desire.
And just as
Abram, God has dreams for us that may be outside our box (abilities,
limitations and so on).
They may
take years to fulfill as Abram's did, but if we follow Him, He will be faithful
to fulfill them.
Just as
God's dream for Abram brought the blessing of Jesus, so God's dreams for us can
bless many.
He wants to
take us out of our boxes as we yield to Him and write a story that maybe we
never imagined.
It makes
those "plans" we had open up to a whole new horizon.
Sherry Davis was
in full-time ministry for three years before marrying. After raising and
homeschooling two sons, she enjoys gardening and writing from her life
experiences to encourage others.
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