I have a purpose..He has the plan

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As I drove to work this morning, the sun was rising behind me so I had to squint from the reflection in my side view mirror. I have become more and more aware of just how blessed I am. Funny how life experiences, particularly the difficult ones, can cause this pause within us. I know God does this on purpose, it is part of His plan to mold me, make me who I am meant to be. It doesn't mean I'll like it, and the majority of the time I am probably going to kick and stomp my way through it. I am particularly stubborn and set in my ways, I like to have a plan ahead of me as to how I think my life should go, so what hits me as a surprise or an interruption in my life is actually God at work just as He intended. I have to mentally prepare myself for change, for the flexibility required to navigate through this life without completely breaking down from time to time. I am not as patient as I appear, there is an inner turmoil that goes on in my head that the outside world cannot see. I think this is just part of my process of coming into being, because as I churn within, I try to make it a habit daily to release that to God. Somehow, rather remarkably, the Holy Spirit takes that turmoil, fills me with peace and strength to approach my day as I am intended to. I can't imagine the damage and destruction that would take place in my life if I rushed into my day without giving God a second thought. I was reminded in my devotional today of Ezekiel's experience, how God instructed Him to speak the truth and that he was accountable for sharing the gospel with those around him. He was warned they would be very stubborn, obstinate but that he had a job to do. Here is where we as Christ followers screw it up: we are not responsible for the result, but for our choice to act upon the call God has placed upon our lives. It is not our job to save anyone on this planet, but it is our job to tell them about Christ, about His unfailing and unconditional love for us, about how much He longs to spend time with us, so that we can know Him more and more as we walk in our faith. As this year seems to fly by, I am aware more and more that our time on this planet is so short and we have so many people to reach. How selfish it is of us to allow our lives to become so full of "stuff". The message our pastor brought last Sunday was a huge conviction for all of us to de-clutter our lives, prioritize everything around God and God alone. How dare we schedule a single thing into our daily lives without first spending time with Him! It is all about Him, His wonderful, amazing and unmistakable plan for each of our lives.

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