“If today I lose my hope, please remind me that your plans are better than my dream…”
How many times have we hoped, dreamed and even prayed that something specific would happen? Please Lord, give me (us) this, or that? If we are honest, it’s probably more times than we admit, or even realize. How often though, after such a heartfelt plea, have we been surprised when God’s answer is in some way far more than what we expected?
I saw the quote above (author unknown) last week and it was especially pertinent for me. Yes, even for the person who has the quote, “Change truly happens on the other side of surrender” at the top of her blog website. (Big smile). You see… as I’ve mentioned, our lives were turned upside down a year ago when I unexpectedly and abruptly no longer had a very good paying job. In all the ways it unraveled our lives, the very hardest part was to accept something that we had absolutely not one ounce of control over. Please don’t misunderstand – I know it wasn’t a life threatening diagnosis, or an unexpected death, or any other such life altering event. Yet, it causes one to totally surrender in many of the same ways.
So just over a year later we have accelerated our downsizing retirement plans. It does come with mixed emotion, however, I’ve been enjoying the time spent on finding that next perfect community and home to live in. I’ve spent many hours on-line searching, filtering and exploring homes that are on the market. We’ve driven by them, spent a few minutes at Open Houses, and in full disclosure walked a community pathway so we could see the back yard of one home. (Wink) There is however, one big step that we cannot control, that needs to happen before our retirement home can be realized. We have two homes to sell. One in particular that would give us the cash to realize an important retirement plan of substantially reducing our debt with the goal of being debt free, soon thereafter.
I’ve learned a big lesson over the past several weeks of writing this blog. Would you like to guess what that is? It’s that I can’t just write about having faith, or exhibiting trust, or even that powerful word of surrender… I have to live it too! No matter what that one (or more) ‘thing‘ is we are dwelling on today, it is the ‘thing‘ that requires our full and utmost surrender and belief in God, our God, whose plans just might be much bigger and better than our dreams.
So, today, I ask you to join me in pushing the questions, wondering and doubt away so that we don’t lose one minute of today, worrying and wondering about tomorrow. I have a small sign in my bathroom I read every morning… it says,
“Don’t worry about tomorrow – God is already there”.
What greater assurance can there be? So as I continue to search for that next perfect place to call home, I commit to living out my belief that our absolutely perfect next home will be ready for us at the very same time our home(s) sell.
In what I imagine is one of the least read books of the Bible, Habakkuk 2:3 it says:
But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!
Famous Christian author and teacher Joyce Meyer, said it this way:
God causes things to happen at exactly the right time! Your job is not to figure out when, but to make up your mind that you won’t give up until you cross the finish line and are living in the radical, outrageous blessings of God! The more you trust Jesus and keep your eyes focused on Him, the more life you’ll have. Trusting God brings life. Believing brings rest. So stop trying to figure everything out, and let God be God in your life.
Together let’s cross that finish line and live the radical, outrageous blessings of God! Wow! My next forever home is going to incredible and outrageously perfect for us. (I can’t wait to share it with you!)
Perhaps you’ve already crossed that finish line with something important to you. Please share a comment if you have so others can push their doubt away and celebrate with you. If you haven’t yet, today’s question is – are you willing to allow God to shape your plans and hopes, even if His plans are different from your own? If we are willing to do so, we will find a life of far greater significance than any life of our own choosing. AMEN!
Today’s song is “I Will Trust In You” by Lauren Daigle. Very moving, very pertinent for today. I know I’ve listened to it at least once a day for the past year (and likely several times on some days). Hear it, believe, SING IT! (I’ve included the lyrics).