Sometimes I don’t understand God. I don’t always get the reasoning as to why certain events and circumstances occur. Sometimes I wonder why He is changing my plan. Why He is messing it up so to speak. Why He has a different plan for me. Sometimes I struggle with trusting that God’s plan really is far better than anything I can try to conjure up.
A few months ago my best friend told me to read a book. She told me it would change the way I look at life, relationships…basically everything. As much as I hate reading, I promised her I would read this book she spoke so highly of. (And I refuse to break a promise, so I knew I had my work cut out for me…)
Well 5 months later, here I am finally finished with the, what seemed like massive, book, grateful that I actually spent the time to read it. It is in fact quite an amazing book. And believe it or not, it was indeed worth the 5 months I tried to finish it, reading in between homework, studying, and life. This book changed the way I look at a lot of things in life.
This book is Redeeming Love.
If you haven’t read it already, I highly recommend doing so.
Now this isn’t me writing some blog post just to tell you how wonderful this book is because you can go read it for yourself. But see, this book opened my eyes in a different kind of way. And you can’t quite understand until you read it for yourself. But it did open my eyes to a variety of things; one being that God’s plan will always prevail.
In the Book, Francine Rivers bases the story line off the biblical story of Hosea and Gomer. Which in this, Hosea is a faithful man of God. The Lord commands him to go and marry Gomer, who is known in modern days as a prostitute. After much time, Hosea obeys the Lord and marries her, yet faces much struggle along the way. Ultimately the Lord’s plan prevails.
This is much like our life. I’m sure Hosea never planned to marry a prostitute. And though God’s plan for us may not be to go do the same, my point is, through trials, struggles, and many prayers, Hosea obeyed the Lord’s plan for him and trusted it would be far better than his own plan for himself.
We all have a plan for our own lives. But I’m sure by now in your own life journey, you have at some point already experienced a circumstance where maybe God’s plan was different from yours. That point in which your plan has ultimately been altered from what it originally was at one point in your life. Whether it was to be at a different college, living in a different city, or currently having a different relationship status, ultimately God has always had your best interest in mind.
God works with intentions.
In the book, God worked in Michael’s life when he sought after a woman who he never pictured marrying. It was not always easy for him to love his wife, Angel, who only knew the life of being a prostitute, having been raised in different brothels, but Michael never gave up on her either. Though he may have doubted God at times, Michael ultimately knew God had a plan for His life and pursuing Angel’s heart.
Every part of God’s plan for you and I has a reason and meaning. He won’t throw us a curve ball just for fun or to give him some humor or something to laugh about. And though sometimes it seems this way; like nothing in life makes sense, or the fact we may not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, God has a very specific purpose for our life and a plan for us.
At times it may not seem like it, but God’s plan is always far better than anything we can think of. So yeah maybe it sucks that you are still single right now, when everyone around you seems to be getting engaged and having weddings. And you feel like maybe God forgot about you this time around. But you see, He hasn’t. He has never once forgot about any one of His children. He has created a time for everything, though. And maybe this is not your time right now. Or maybe it is. No matter where you are in your life journey, God is constantly working in and through you. He is working daily in all of us.
And one day the time will come when that light bulb inside of us will click. That moment when it all makes sense. When we see and understand God’s plan for us and why certain relationships never worked out, and why others did. We will understand why our ultimate plan was not God’s. And that moment may not be right now, and that is okay. To be honest it probably isn’t right now for a lot of us. We are in college, still trying to figure out so many different things, and so trying to dissect and figure out God’s ultimate plan for our lives is not quite on our List of Things to Do. That is because we have to trust God and have faith that He will show us direction in our lives. That he will close doors that are not meant for us and will present us with new opportunities and open other doors that are indeed part of His plan.
And you know, at the end of the day, as important as it is to talk to God, don’t forget to wait and listen. Don’t get so caught up in telling God your wants that you forget to listen for your needs.
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future."
