Our Times Are in God's Hand

Three years ago today I was in a very different place. I was sitting in a hospital prayerfully waiting for the arrival of a preemie granddaughter. Very premature, we were all praying and holding our breath. It was a very emotional time for all of us. Time stood still as we juggled grandchildren, ministry, friendships and more.

As I was in the waiting room while my daughter was giving birth, I got a call on my cell phone. It was that daughter telling me we had a baby girl, Stella. She was alive but so incredibly tiny. In the natural it didn’t look good. No one would believe a 24 week baby would ever make it. But she did. More than make it, she is now a rootin’ tootin’ handful of love. Three years old, the only remains of her life in the NICU are pictures that astound us more now than they did then. Three years ago we couldn’t even imagine a three year old. Today we are living in the light of what God can do.

Stella has taught me a lot about life and about God.

There are things that happen we can do nothing about. There are things going on that will only be a dim memory one day. There is God who is right in the middle of it all helping us to grow in faith and in Christlikeness. We may not like our present situation, but even in the pain we can grow in grace and knowledge of God. There are times when we are in situations that seem impossible – these are the times we hold onto God the most. He is able.

God speaks to our hearts – to mine and to yours as well. What you are presently in is not where you are going. I AM the God who goes before you. I AM the one who has a plan for your life. I AM the overseer of your destiny. Neither your troubles nor your heartaches – though they be many – I AM greater than this present moment, as fragile as it all may appear. I will take you beyond this day and one day you will look back and see how Great I AM and how special you are to Me. Don’t look back to the former days, but look forward to the future days. Former days are gone – present days may seem shaky – but your future has My Name written all over it. I AM fully aware of every dire circumstance and every fragile moment – but I AM the Lord who watches over you all the days of your life.

Oh beloved, whatever it is God is calling you to it will happen. Whatever you are going through is not forever. God can do exceedingly abundantly beyond all you ever ask or think. Don’t worry if it takes 3 minutes, 3 days, 3 months or 3 years. Your time is in God’s hands. He loves you and He’s for you and that’s what will make your life shine with His glory and cause others to want to live in that same light.

“Lord, I give my life fresh and new to You. I humbly submit every single day and every single situation into Your loving, all knowing hands. It is so good to know that You will take me from the natural and into the supernatural as I trust You. Thank You for being Greater than all my problems and Lord over all my life. Teach me more about You Lord. In Jesus’ Name”

1 Peter 1:18-19 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom He paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. NLT

Jeremiah 10:23 I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.

Psalm 31:50 My times are in Your hand… NAS

Psalm 139:16-17 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!

Plans May Change but God's Plans Remain

On Sunday as the sun came up the day was absolutely beautiful. Blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds hung in the sky and streaks of gold shined on the dewy grass. The flowers popped in the light and everything looked clean and beautiful. The plan was to be outside all day to enjoy God’s world. 

The only problem with that plan was that within the hour blue black clouds stepped forward out of the west and covered all the crispness. Gloom took over. Rain drops fell. It stayed cold and drippy all day. I never got to spend time outdoors. My plans changed.

We decided that it was a great day to go to church anyway. Then come home and eat a bite of lunch, watch an old movie on tv and have a nap. We had some little visitors and two of them took naps as well. It was that kind of day. I guess I could have griped and moaned and cursed the weather. I could have lamented that I wasn’t getting to do what I wanted to do. I could have ceased to enjoy the day entirely, but I chose to enjoy what there was, along with the change of plans.

The next day came a bigger challenge. A huge change in some plans we had been making for months. I didn’t handle it so well. I was fretting and fussing most of the day. I felt so unsettled. I knew we had a choice – we could either keep with our original plan or we could change our plans. My day didn’t go so well because I had forgotten to make friends with change. I had also forgotten that God’s plans remain no matter what my plans are. 

When I got home and talked with Danny we both agreed that God was up to something, even though it was very different from what we had planned. Then I remembered the Bible study we’re in and how we had studied just last week about discernment. So together we asked God for discernment about the decisions we had to make. Within 30 minutes complete peace came and the decision was made. I had fretted the entire day trying to make heads or tails of what was going on. I had been in a battle and didn’t even realize it. The battle was between my plans and God’s plans. Ultimately that’s where the battle lies. Sure God blesses us with friendships, fellowship, trips and plans. He doesn’t keep us from enjoying life. We just need, for our own sakes and for the sake of the Kingdom, to let God in on our plans so we can enjoy His best.

Oh beloved, God wants you to know that He has wonderful plans for your life! First and foremost His plan is for you to find restoration to the Kingdom of God through Christ. Then He wants you to include Him in every single day – in every single plan – ask Him about His desires and tell Him about yours. No greater fulfillment than to be right in the center of God’s will. Your plans may have gone awry but God loves you. Because He loves you, you can trust that His plans will not be thwarted by any man’s decisions. You are not the victim of circumstances and you don’t have to fret or worry or get frustrated about life’s changes. Today is your day to step up to the Light and feel the Son’s blessings as you walk in the light of God’s Word and His will. No mere vacation will suffice; no personal plans will be good enough. It’s ultimately God’s plans that will stand the test of time. Pray for discernment and He will give it to you. Apologize if you’ve fretted and caused someone else trouble. Rejoice that when it’s all said and done, doing things according to God’s plan is the best plan you’ll ever make.

God loves you and He’s for you. Now go out and have a wonderful day as you make plans and let Him plan your day for His kingdom and His glory as well as your good!

Proverbs 3:5-6 Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. (Amplified)

Proverbs 16:3 Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.

Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Psalm 37:23 The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives

Focus on the Lord - His View Is Magnificent

Little children are so eager to see the world around them. And yet, they have such problems focusing on things that you try to show them. Yesterday evening I was watching one grandson at soccer practice. Two airplanes flew overhead and his little brother heard it. But we could not get him to look in the right direction. Finally I asked him to look where I was pointing. At last he saw the plane. But when it was right over our heads he just couldn’t see it.

We’re like that aren’t we? We have a hard time focusing on the right stuff. We read the Word and we know it’s true but we keep looking at the circumstances instead. We hear God speak to our hearts but we feel the rejection and lose sight of His constant acceptance.

We see problems, God sees plans. We see rejection, God sees connection. We see troubles, God sees opportunities.  God is the light at the end of our tunnel but we get downhearted and truly believe it’s a freight train. Fear starts to take over and pretty soon we’re sidelined. Worry keeps a guard at our hopes and we just give up. Discouragement orders us around like a soldier in a concentration camp.  “You will NOT make it out of this situation you must remain this way forever”.  Pretty soon we have traded all our spiritual knowledge for fleshly misinformation. We are worn out and done in. Hope has left and we can’t find it, even though we look far and wide. The focus is lost and we are unsure if we will ever see God’s presence in our life again.

Oh beloved, you are more than your circumstances! It’s time to focus back on the Lord and His Word. He has a wonderful plan for your life in spite of what you are seeing with the natural eye. Ask Joseph, who was sold by his brothers into slavery. Ask Daniel, who spent time staring down lions in a dungeon. Ask Hannah, who was humiliated because she couldn’t have a baby. Ask Jesus Himself, who was despised, rejected and ultimately crucified. These, along with the entire council of the Word of God are the ones who teach you how to focus rightly even when it all looks blurry and the clouds have settled in and your mind says give up.

Focus on the Lord! Rehearse the promises of God! Rejoice in who you are in Christ! Remember the Truth and discard the lies, for you are not living in your present circumstances forever. You are a Warrior Princess of the Most High God!  You are redeemed from the law of sin and death. You are a Kingdom seeker and a Word believer! You are going through! You are overcoming! You are stepping from one glory stone to the next! You are seeing the Truth and breaking forth into joy! For beloved, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you!  Get your eyes back on the prize and remember, regard and repeat all the blessings that come beyond the momentary, light afflictions.  It does not matter what you’ve seen, what you’ve been through, not even the past mistakes and future fears, for God is with you! He is your Guardian and your Champion and together with Him you are going to live in the light of His Word.

He loves you and He’s for you and that’s worth focusing on every day of your life and all the way to heaven!

I John 5:4 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.

Psalm 98:1 Sing a new song to the Lord, for He has done wonderful deeds.  His right hand has won a mighty victory; His holy arm has shown His saving power!

2 Corinthians 4:18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Psalm 123:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the Lord our God, Until He is gracious to us. Amplified

Micah 7:7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord and confident in Him I will keep watch; I will wait with hope and expectancy for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Amplified

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

Psalm 37:3 Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

God's Plans for You Are Right on Time

I wanted snow. Not 10 inches but enough to make snow ice cream. I’m just a little disappointed. But I was home this week-end and would have enjoyed it. Usually when it snows I’m looking for a can of condensed milk and find none. This year I’ve been ready all winter. There are extra cans waiting in the cabinet. But no snow to go with the milk. I’m prepared but there’s nothing happening.

Ever feel prepared for something yet nothing happens? You know in your heart it’s something you really want and you’ve done everything to be ready. Yet it does not appear. Disappointment wants to knock on the door of your heart and walk right in and take over. It could be a job, a boyfriend, a marriage, a house, a past-time, a ministry, a dream. You’ve prepared and made everything ready on your end but the answer doesn’t come through. You start to wonder. Questions come. You ask yourself if you did something wrong, if you missed the boat, if God was not aware of your dreams and plans.

Disappointment isn’t something you want to let in. The trouble with disappointment is it brings friends with it. Entertain disappointment and you’ll find yourself feeling depressed, and ultimately in despair. Satan will use disappointment that settles in your heart to convince you that you missed God. Or that God missed you. The tactic of the enemy is to use situations that are temporary and convince you they are permanent.

Snow will eventually fall here again. It’s just not going to happen right now. Do I give up? Do I throw out the canned milk? Do I curse the snow and refuse to believe? No. I refer to the truth. I defer to the truth.

With every situation we find ourselves in we must defer to God. He alone knows the why, the when and the where. But He says He has plans for us and they are good. So, we don’t answer the door when the disappointment comes. We replace disappointment with the knowledge that it is HIS appointment that counts. All our appointments are kept right on time by an On time God! We shut the mouth of the enemy by praising God. Praising God for delays that give way to His wonderful ways – right on time.

Oh beloved! This is not the time to give up. This is the time to spend time with Jesus. Praising Him. Worshipping Him. Responding to Him. Letting Him speak His truth into your heart. Reading His Word, over and over again. Finding the Scriptures that speak to your heart and living in their light. Everything else wants to let darkness take over – your mind and your senses are reeling because what you thought would happen hasn’t happened. But your spirit responds to God’s Word with His Truth to lift you out of despair and into His presence of glory and peace. Don’t spend another moment cursing what should have been, but begin to praise Him for what is going to be! You will find that your burden of disappointment can’t stay in the presence of praise. This is the time to be full of joy and peace as you wait for the Father to fulfill His plans for you in His time. 

God loves you and He’s for you and all His plans are good and right on time. Keep praying for His plans to come through and watch as He will never disappoint you ever. You can dance with joy as you wait in His presence for His plans to come to light.

Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. AMP

Psalm 52:9 I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, And I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.

Psalm 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

God's Plans for you Are Wonderful!

“For I know the plans I have for you…” 

Today is my birthday. We all celebrate birthdays in one way or another. To celebrate the birth of a person is no little thing. It’s amazing that of all the days of a year, we all had an ordained day for our presentation to the world. God’s plan. I know all of us have parents who wanted a baby or adoptive parents who wanted to bring us home, but the date of our arrival was no accident. He knew. Before the foundation of the world, He knew you were going to be here. He knew I was going to be here.

God ordained a lot of great things for my life. Along with those great things, there have been some close calls and near death experiences. There have been some things that weren’t so fun. There have been some out –of- this- world wonderful things. My life has been nothing usual; it’s been all very amazing, even in the hard times. For that I am grateful. For seeing God’s hand as I look back on my entire life I am thankful. For Christ bending down and picking me up for His own I worship Him every single day. Good and bad, mixed together, life is beautiful as I look to Him and wait for His plans to continue to unfold in my life.

Your life is no accident either. You weren’t born at the wrong time or under the wrong circumstances. God knows the plans He has for you. He had your days numbered before you were even a glimmer in your family’s eyes. You weren’t a mistake. God’s plans for you were wonderful and they still are. I know things can be rough. I know not everything is perfect in life. 

Today is a choice. We can be sorry about what’s not perfect or we can rejoice in the goodness of God. We can be miserable about things we cannot change or we can rejoice that we’ve made it this far. We can curse the junk that doesn’t really matter or wecan bless the Lord that we’re still here.

Oh beloved, God knows the plans He has for you! You are uniquely God’s creation. It’s the day to rejoice in your birth for God has wonderful plans for you! His plans for you are good and not evil. His plans give you a future and a hope. His plans include Christ, who is the Author and Finisher of your faith. Today is your day too. Choose joy over misery. Choose blessing over cursing. Choose to let God love you and rest in His promises. What a wonderful thing it is to be born. And at such a time as this, you are right where you need to be to reach out to God and let Him lead you. 

Precious one, focus on God! Focus on the wonderful things that God has done for you. Focus on the things you love about your life. Give the things you’re not so sure about to Him and watch as He makes all things good! 

God loves you and He’s for you and that’s why you can know that His plans for you are good as you walk in faith all the days of your life!

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Psalm 139:13-18 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!

Psalm 71:6 Yes, You have been with me from birth; from my mother’s womb You have cared for me. No wonder I am always praising You!

I AM that I AM Has Wonderful Plans for You!

I remember from most of my teacher friends that lesson plans are a real bone of contention. I don’t understand what all is involved but yesterday I noticed a friend posted on social media that she had lost a thousand pound weight – lesson plans were done for a class she’s taking at college! I also have a friend who has been sharing information about estate planning, especially for those who don’t have the finances to pay a lawyer or an estate planner. This will be a real help for many people.

Even with gardening and crop farming, there has to be a plan. You’ve got to know when to plant, what to plant, how much to plant and how to care for what you’ve planted. Without the proper plan all you can do is throw out seeds and hope something happens. It’s haphazard at best and going to be a waste of time and money.

From teachers to farmers, everyone has to make plans. We all need plans to create, organize and enjoy our lives.  We need plans to spend, save and pay our bills. We need plans to even have a great vacation or wedding or other exciting and fun event in our lives. A good marriage requires planning, even after the I Do’s.  Finding time alone is important to plan for couples with young children. Planning is required to have success in any area of life.

Planning for our spiritual life must be done as well. Unless we follow God’s plan, we have little hope to produce fruit in our lives or grow in faith and knowledge. If we don’t begin at the beginning, with His plan for salvation, we will never be able to make any other lasting plans. But with the foundational work done by the Lord Himself, we can build and make plans that will be for His glory and our good. God not only gave us a plan for eternal life, He has given us plans for godliness and abundant living.   

Maybe you are having a hard time seeing God’s plan through the tears, through the fears, through the hard knocks of life. Maybe you had plans and they were good, but they’ve fallen by the wayside or someone ruined them for you. You can hold fast to God in spite of these things, because God Himself is your Life and Estate Planner! His plans never fail, though we seem to be at others’ mercy many times, we are never out of His abundant care, as long as we hold onto God’s eternal, unchangeable, immutable plans.

Oh beloved, God has a wonderful plan for your life! Open His plan book, the Word of God, this morning and read about His plans. Read again how He has plans to prosper you, give you hope, give you a future and bless you with joy and peace, faithfulness and forgiveness. When God speaks to you He says, I AM your Planner, I AM your Guide, I AM your Answer to every situation of life! You can trust ME because I AM that I AM and I will guide you, bless you, forgive you, redirect you, redeem you, uphold you, care for you all the days of your life. And when I AM ready to take you home, I AM the One who will welcome you in to My Father’s House. You have nothing to fear and nothing to dread for as you follow Me, I will protect and deliver you from every messy plan that others try to give you and wipe them from your heart, replacing them once again with My plans. I love you and I am always for you and that’s a plan worth following!

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Psalm 33:11 But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; His intentions can never be shaken.

Psalm 40:5 O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all Your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.

Jude 1:1-2 This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ.  May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.

God Wants to Write Your Story!

While preparing the devotional book, I discovered that there’s a lot of work involved in getting it just right for print. While I didn’t rewrite any of the devotionals themselves, I did edit some of the grammar, fixed a few typos and looked at how the Scriptures for each page looked. One change in a line on one page can make things off on every succeeding page.

Editors get paid a lot of money to do just that.  They are adept at what they do. Sometimes, especially with fiction, they get to make lots of changes. They like to rewrite characters, change plots and have authors rewrite endings. They can redeem a mundane story and make it sparkle.

Collaborators work with authors to enhance what they’ve written. Instead of rewriting, they make suggestions to increase the viability of characters, the excitement of a plot and make the ending more interesting. They will guide and direct to help the story be greatly improved.

Ghost writers do all the writing themselves. Then the writing is posted to an author’s name for credit. This type of writing allows the author, who may not have the best abilities, to increase the value of “their” writing. The ghost writer is the actual author who takes care of everything.

Every one of us is a novel in the making. Our story is being written every day. We can author our own book or we can let someone do the writing for us. We can go it alone or we can let another collaborate with us – help us along the way. We can use our own abilities or we can allow a ghost writer to increase the value of our storyline.

Can you imagine what a wonderful story is developing about your life? Did you know that Jesus can be your Editor in Chief – choosing to enhance your entire profile and cause the plots in your life to end with victory? God Himself will collaborate with you to enhance every detail; taking the hard places and making them shine for His glory! He will write your story for you if you just give Him your day and let Him be the Author and Finisher of your faith story!

Oh beloved, let God be your storyteller! Let Him proclaim His greatness through your life. He knows the harrowing experiences, the cliffs of danger and the valleys of decision you’ve been through. He knows the plot may be thickening right this moment, but He’s already written the end of your story and it all comes out beyond your wildest imagination! Everything He speaks of His own nature is yours to enjoy! Run to His Word this morning and read your story as you proclaim His Story. The greatest points of His marvelous message are that He loves you and that He’s for you and that’s worth turning it all over to Him!

Psalm 23:3 He refreshes and restores my life (my self); He leads me in the paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him—not for my earning it, but] for His name’s sake. (Amplified Bible)

Psalm 16:7 I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me.

I Peter 18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for Me wholeheartedly, you will find Me.

Deuteronomy 33:3 Indeed, He loves His people; all His holy ones are in His hands. They follow in His steps and accept His teaching.