Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. . . .

When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Lord lifts up a standard. It is that standard I am blessing this morning. The enemy has surely come in like a flood. My fast is over and I have a $2,000.00 repair bill on the bumper of my NEW car, an assault against my family that has split it wide open, and now my daughter has two bulging discs in her back pressing on a nerve bundle that has totally debilitated her. Unable to work, her husband’s salary won’t support their family, no health insurance, and no naturally visible solutions for their woes.

BUT GOD!

The grace of God, the peace of God, the mercy of God are pouring down upon me like a sweet, spring rain. I’ve had to cancel one mission trip because of the great storm and I felt SO bad about that. I had failed God. I let family circumstances interfere with world missions. This morning, however, He met me here with words of encouragement and although I FELT like the one who had said he would go and then didn’t go, the Lord reassured me that my life and my times are in His hands — and He offered grace for my failure.

I sense I am on the edge of a brand new life – a brand new way of life. I do not know what plan the Lord has for the rest of my life but I am trusting Him to bring it to pass, and that trust has ushered in even greater peace.

If I were operating in the natural and someone handed me a plan, I would meticulously follow it to ensure the final goal would be reached. But God hasn’t handed me a plan. He has simply told me He has a plan and He will bring it to pass. So there isn’t much I can do unless He gives me a piece of the puzzle. When He does, I can be obedient. I think that is why I felt like such a failure when I canceled my mission trip – I thought it was part of the bigger plan that I did not see and therefore I was failing to complete my part of the plan. BUT GOD!

He has spoken to my heart and assured me that His plan for my life will be fulfilled. He has made it clear that I can do nothing to thwart His plan. I am not Jonah, running away from my calling. I am like Peter, who invited Christ to sup in his home and to touch his mother with healing.

God has a plan for each of our lives and He will bring it to completion. I have spent far too many hours agonizing over what His plan is for my life in an attempt to understand and to change my habits, behaviors, and lifestyle to fit His plan. What He has shown me this morning has broken another shackle off of my life. It is simply this: It is His plan. He is responsible for the implementation of the plan. He has chosen each of us to play a part based upon who He created us to be. He is not calling each of us to change in order to implement the plan, but rather, the implementation of the plan will bring about whatever change He deems necessary.

I have been making this harder than it has to be. God loves us and wants us to play a part in His amazing story. He has assigned roles and is placing us in the positions we need to be in in order to fulfill the call He has placed on our lives. We are in training every single day, right where we are.

I would love to see the big picture, but I know that if I do I would do something to screw up the plan and cause more effort than is necessary to get to the goal. So today I am, once again, resting in His love and the sweetness of His embrace, trusting Him to bring to pass whatever it is He is preparing for my life and the lives of my children.

And I’m trusting Him for your life too!