Lessons Along the Way

"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee: and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee...for I am the LORD thy God...since thou wast precious in my sight." Isaiah 43:2-4

After sitting down many times and thinking to myself "Can anything else go wrong?" and "Lord, why all of this for us, right now?" these verses came to my mind. Comfort, reassurance and love shine clearly through these verses, but so does the truth that there will be times when you "pass through the waters and the rivers." At those times, like no other, I know that I am in a place where I can go to no one else but God! Through all the circumstances of these past few weeks and changes even months before, God knocked down all my feeble plans in order to clearly show me that there is nothing else and no one else I can depend upon but my God.

I have come to this point many times in my life before, but sadly I forget the important truths of complete dependence on God and get comfortable with my circumstances, my problem solving ability or my future plans. It is so easy even when things in life get shaken up a little to try to figure out "plan B" on my own without seeking God's plan. (I'm sure I'm not the only one to do this!) In pride I trudge forward, confident of my own way. When the trials come and my plans are knocked out from under me, the battle in my mind begins. To be honest, it is not easy for me to surrender right away and realize that even through difficult times, my God still cares about me and wants to change me. At this point, I am so thankful for the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God that works to break my proud heart so that I can be taught. There is no sweeter place to be than bowed down before the Lord with a surrendered heart and will.

The other important lesson my God has been teaching me if found in James 4: 13-15

"Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that."

I am a planner and I easily set my heart on my plans. Anyone else like that? So, I am easily disappointed and frustrated when my plans fall through or are changed. How foolish I am to hold my plans over God's will, God's perfect plan and get upset when my plan doesn't work. Does this mean that I don't need to plan any more? No. But I must continually bring my plans and dreams before the Lord and surrender them to Him. I want Him to guide my plans, even the making of them. When this is my attitude, my response to any change in plans won't be that of disappointment or anger, but rather joy that my God's plan is being worked out for the best.

There are many more lessons God has been teaching me along our journey, but I will save those for other posts :-).