Step of Faith

Have you ever felt like you just got thrust into a place you didn’t want to be?  Where you feel that you are in a race that you can’t possibly keep up much less finish what has been placed before you?  In your efforts to try and just get to the finish line of what has been place before you, you find you’ve gotten off track?

It seems that many times over the last few years, as I have grown closer in my relationship with God that I have had many “races” set before me.  Each task He has put before me, I seem to have the same reactions at the beginning.  Lord, I can’t do this on my own!  But He isn’t asking that of me.  He is asking me to do what He has placed before me with faith in Him to get me through it.

One of my favorite Bible verses is:

‎"The Lord your God is with you, 
He is mighty to save.  
He will take great delight in you, 
he will quiet you with his love,
 he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

In whatever circumstance I find myself in, God is with me.  He is Mighty to save!  He is stronger than anything else I can think or dream of to get me through my circumstances.  I will delight Him by being thankful for what He has done for me.  I will be comforted with the love that He shows me every day!  When my faith in Him has gotten me through what I could not do on my own, He will rejoice over me.  How amazing is that?  God who is so much more than you can ever imagine loves us so much that He will rejoice over us with singing! 

So when you find yourself veering off course, when you feel like you can’t go any further on your own… don’t!  Ask God to help you, ask Him to do what you can’t.  He’s already there waiting for you to simply ask Him to help you!  A great example in the Bible of this for me is the story of Peter when he walked on water to get to Jesus.  He stepped out in faith but then doubts started to get to him.  He didn’t keep his focus on Jesus being able to do all things including Peter walking on water.  But when Peter cried out for Jesus to save him, Jesus didn’t hesitate; He was right there ready to step in.  

God's Plan vs. My Plan

Joyce Meyers wrote on Facebook a few weeks ago, “Get God’s plan before making your own”.  This really hit me up along side of the head, I happened to read it shortly after thinking that God must really be getting a laugh out of me making my plans that day, nothing had gone as I had planned.

Lately God has really been speaking to my heart about plans… His vs. mine.  I am a planner; I have a plan for each day to know what’s the most urgent thing to the least that needs to be dealt with.  But do I get God’s plan before I make my own?  How much different is God’s plan for my day?  He’s been reminding me of all the times I have listened to Him and followed what He tells me, as well as, those times that I haven’t.

Looking back on those days when I listened, I see how things just seemed to fall into place.  It wasn’t me trying to force it to be right, it just was.  Then there are those He reminds me of when I didn’t listen.  He reminds me of how things went wrong, how I was full of stress, frustration and anxiety over the situation.  So why do I let my feelings of anxiety or let myself worry about how to get everything done and not listen to what God is telling me? 

It seems I forget that God has a plan for me.  I get too caught up in what I have going on right that minute to pay attention to what God is saying.  What I’ve noticed is this, when I start my day with reading my Bible the sense of peace I get carries me through the day.  I’ve had my quiet time of reading and reflection.  I have a sense of being able to do all that has been put before me because I know that God will never leave me or forsake me.  And that to do list I created doesn't have so much pull over the direction I am heading in that day.  His plan for me is greater than I can even imagine and I am just a small piece of the puzzle.  I can combat that sense of stress, frustration and anxiety with the Bible verses I am memorizing this week and by having faith that if God is for me who can be in victory against me.

“He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  Philippians 1:6

“Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.”  Psalm 146:5

  Faith as defined by Max Lucado “is a conviction that He can and a hope that He will.”  Going forward each day I am putting my faith in God’s planning rather than my own, knowing that His plan has my best interests at heart.