Sitting in church this morning,  I was so reassured by God’s faithfulness yet again. How sweet is it to know that the Lord has mighty plans for you? That he has a reason for everything in your life and knows every detail to come. This has been nothing but truth for me lately. As I have said in recent posts, this summer has been quite a challenging one for me. I graduated college and then next comes – yes, finding a job. Quite a difficult task for most people, but even more so for a “terrible at making decisions” type of girl like me. But good news people, I have a job and the Lord is so faithful.  I was pleasantly surprised by my job, not being anything what I expected  – yet so much more. I adore the people I work with and I have been learning quite a bit. It goes to show, that the Lord’s plan for my life is far better than my own.

Though work is great and The Lord has been living it with me there, church today really struck deep with me. Simple and sweet the message was focused on – Gods Plan is Always the Best Plan for Your Life (scripture Acts 16).  The preacher spoke a line at the very beginning of the sermon that said, “God’s plan is always connected to your spiritual maturity.” I heard that and instantly thought back to this summer and my life before then. What a relieving sentence. That no matter where I am in life, God will use it for my growth. So this summer when I thought I couldn’t wait any more or when I wanted my plan or when I was so frustrated I wanted to give up, The Lord brought me patience. He showed me discipline. He taught me to trust in obedience. He purposely used those three months to grow my spiritual maturity. And he will continuously do this through the rest of my life.

Acts 16 focuses on Paul and the spiritual marks he made. The preacher made 4 points:  1)Paul invested in other   2)He strengthened the church    3)He submitted to the Spirit of God    4)He had determination to spread the gospel. Though all points are great, I particularly loved the combination of the last two. The story talks about how Paul wanted to go to certain cities to preach and the Spirit kept telling him no. Paul is like, “Whattt? I am wanting to do a good thing here God. Why can’t I go?” (How I have so been here before.) But then you see God calling Paul to go to Macedonia and because he listened to the Spirit and went – Lydia was saved, a demon was driven out from a girl, and a jailer and his family came to know Jesus.

What if Paul would have said no? What if he would have done what he wanted and gone to the other cities that were “good” but not God’s plan? If that were the case, three different scenarios of people would have never come to meet Jesus. Just like Paul, I have great hope that is what God is doing for us. That if we are submitting to the Spirit and living with God, He is putting us in situations that allow us to bring Him glory. I am so honored by that today. I trust the plans the Lord has for me because God’s plans are connected to my spiritual maturity. When He grows me, I know Him more intimately. And there is nothing sweeter than that.

Jesus, I humbly come to you asking that you never stop using me and my current situations for your glory. Thank you that I can trust you completely knowing you have every detail of my life under your control. Thank you for being a farmer, tending and growing my heart. For great is thy faithfulness unto me.

xx

Hannah