God's plan is scary. That may sound shocking and almost counter-intuitive at first glance, but if you really think about God's plan for your life and where He may be leading you, it really can be scary. Sometimes it fits right in with your own ideas about where your life is headed, and those can be truly blissful times, but more often than not, God's plan does not lead you into a place of comfort and met expectations. No, on the contrary, God's plan frequently makes you quite uncomfortable indeed. This is something that I have been struggling with for the better part of the past year. For awhile, I haven't had any idea what His plan was for Kari and I, and it seemed as though we were adrift... meaningless and purposeless... just living life to stay alive. Lately, though, God is starting to give me a glimpse of His ultimate purpose for my life, and again, it's scary. What I see is not necessarily what I thought I would see, and I have no idea how we're going to get there, but the ultimate destination seemed inevitable: A life truly serving God, and letting go of the comfortable (relatively speaking) life we now enjoy.
Nehemiah had the same experience when he heard that the wall of Jerusalem had been broken down. He was the cup-bearer to the king, which was an honored, respected position. He had all the comforts of the time, and had no earthly reason to do anything other than hold onto what he had as tightly as he could. Yet his people were in distress, and God moved him to use his influence to convince the king to allow him to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall. Imagine what it must have been like for him to go to the king, not knowing if his request would even be heard, if he would be able to remain in the presence of the king if denied, or even if he would remain alive. Yet God's plan, as scary as it was, had to be followed. Nehemiah was brave enough to follow God even at the peril of his own livelihood, and he was blessed because of that.
So too, I firmly believe that following God's plan has to be paramount in the life of my family. I'm not sure yet how this will manifest itself, but I do know one thing: No matter how scary God's plan is, it is not nearly as scary as the prospect of NOT following it, and I know that there is joy awaiting us at the end!!!
2 comments:
I agree because God has been working with me in this area in the last year, nothing that's life-changing, but in ways that I've really struggled with. You're right though, even if it's not necessarily scary to follow His plan, it's hard to yield and say, "You're way, not mine" when everything in you screams, "That plan doesn't fit with the picture in my brain!" LOL The verse that sticks with me a lot is "I have a plan for you, not too harm you," (summarized). It sounds like God is showing you some possible changes in your life, can't wait to see what those are!
We are excited to hear more about what God has in store for you three.
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