“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Ps 37:4
I was a bit skeptical at first. I wondered why I needed to go through a man-made process to determine what God had designed me to be and do. If I was walking close enough to the Lord, I should be able to hear his voice and follow what He wanted me to do. After talking with some friends who had been through it, I decided this was something I needed to do, even if it just confirmed what I thought was His purpose for my life.
As I had friends praying for me, one commented that she wanted to know how my “week before” was, because Satan will get in and try all he can to prevent us from seeking God and from seeing God. I went in as prayed up as I could be, but just over a week before my scheduled life plan, life took a huge nose-dive. Every circumstance said I should cancel or postpone, but I had been forewarned. So, I stayed determined to let nothing get between me and my appointment with God for those 2 days. In preparation for this, it was suggested that I fast. Never really having done it before, I decided to give it a try. Due to my life’s “nose dive”, I discovered that I choose food to comfort me during stressful times. Yet, I couldn’t because I was fasting the very food I use. So for two weeks, during the most stress, I found I had to rely on God to be my comfort, which He was. I knew this life plan was going to have something awesome to show me if the preparation was already letting me see God.
Spending 2 days looking over my life was absolutely amazing! When do we, as women, ever do that? We look over our children’s lives through photo albums, but we don’t usually have God’s pictures of our lives to go through. That’s what this was. I could see important moments in my life and the lessons God taught me through each one and how each of those lessons has formed my values, my gifts, my abilities – me. I saw a life that by all human tendencies was destined for promiscuity, anger & bitterness. Yet, by God’s design was destined for His glory and His purposes. I was able to see that when we “delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart”. Ps 37:4.
My purpose was almost what I expected it to be, with a few adjustments, but my dreams took it to a whole new level. As I seek to “coach parents by teaching them how to keep families together and stand against the cultural norms”, I see a much bigger arena than just the church. If I think too much about it, it is very overwhelming. However, this life plan reminded me that if I continue to listen for God’s direction, I can have confidence that He has prepared me for whatever He calls me to do. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plan to give you a hope and a future.”
