What is your plan, anyway?
Why do you allow me to go through....fill in the blank.
All very real questions. Ones that seems to be front and center, especially in the midst of seasons that present real obstacles. Times when life just feels plain hard or even impossible. Times when what you hoped for or planned, don't quite turn out the way you imagined.
Something I read the other day, said,
"Circumstances don't make you who you are, but reveal who you are."
I would even go further and say...they sometimes force you into a place that shapes who you will become.
I often times look back and see now how God has had His hand on so many things to bring me to the place I am right now. There are too many events, some of which seemed inconsequential at the time, that God has used to bring me to this place at this time, walking forward on this path. None of it was a mistake. And while some of it still hurts, I know it was used to stretch my faith and place me right where He wants to grow me and use me.
(Originally written: December 2018)
I hadn't written anything for a while on my blog and decided to go see just how long it had been, when I stumbled across this post from the end of 2018. One that I had started, but never finished or published, for whatever reason.
I had no intention of writing anything today, but when I read that old post I just knew I felt God tugging at me to "finish" what I started!
So, fast forward over a year later 1/31/2020....those words couldn't ring more true. And, I feel like I have so many friends in really hard places right now. Like... I'm talking in the pit, hopeless, and dark places! The kind that make your soul ache. The kind that have crushed you to a thousand pieces. The kind you wonder if you will EVER recover from.
I look back and know that some of the hard things people are walking through I have experienced myself, on some levels. And some of these things I have not walked through at all.
But, what I know to be true is that I have walked through a dark valley (on multiple occasions in my life), and I can attest to the goodness of God to carry me through.
I look back and know that He brought me through those things to bring me to other things, with a new perspective that I couldn't have otherwise had. And, while I never thought I would say it....I am grateful for the valleys. Those times not only revealed who I was, but shaped who I am becoming.
I see now that He was preparing me for the next chapters of my story. Giving me eyes to see things in a new and different way. A way that God already knew I would need, but couldn't obtain or get there without those soul-crushing experiences to give me that perspective.
One path lead straight to another, to another, to another...that lead me to where I am now. I just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward, not looking back to the past. I had to keep my eyes and my steps in a forward direction and let God work out all those details behind and before me to reveal who I am and who he was shaping me to become.
To my friends who can't see it now....Hold on. Be held. He will bring you through. I really do believe that with all my heart and He promises to do that. (Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 16:11, Isaiah 41:13) Keep moving forward at His direction. Don't let the circumstances you may be in now, keep you from taking steps of faith forward. Let Him lead you and carry you all the way.
And, what is in the next chapter will be more beautiful because of it!
