A year ago, I could have never imagined all that God had planned. You?
I mean really…you can’t dream some of this stuff up.
All God has done – and in only a year. He did some big things – God restored a relationship my husband had prayed for since 2000, phenomenal! God provided speaking engagements for me, multiple times. Knowing that is a desire of my heart, He blessed me far above what I could have guessed. Our son also accepted Christ as his Savior this year – what could be better? He did some difficult things – my husband lost one of his Soldiers in Afghanistan, but as is His way, it provided us a wonderful opportunity to share Jesus with many in his unit. He also did some little things, like the two weeks my sweet hubby had a kidney stone and we had scheduled for the kids to be at my mother-in-law’s house. I mean, He planned it down to the detail. We went to the emergency room the night before we were supposed to drop them off and passed it the night before we were supposed to go pick them up. Crazy, right?
Amazingly enough, He does this every year, every day of our lives. He plans and prepares amazing things for our journey. They are not all fun and exciting, but they all have a purpose and plan. Ideally, each one is drawing us closer to Him and molding us to be more like Him.
At PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel), one of the ladies pointed out that we are quick to send a thank you note to people for the things they do for us. But when it comes to God, we tend to periodically give a general “thank you!” instead of thanking Him for specific acts and even the challenges. As many of us have read before:
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”(I Thessalonians 5:16-18).
In everything give thanks! Those times we consider so challenging are times we look back on and see God’s grace and our growth. Many times I forget to thank Him for the specifics, the details, but, my goodness, how thankful I am.
Seeing what He has done in the past year, knowing He is the same amazing God today, I get so excited about what the future may bring. I can’t wait to see how God leads our family, how He changes me, and how He prepares us for things down the road. He always does more than I expect and many times far more than I could ever imagine. I am forever thankful for His wisdom, His grace, and His love for me. This life is truly an amazing adventure – an adventure I would not trade for all the world.
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).
So, what do you love about this adventure? What has God done in you and in your family this past year? What are you looking forward to most in the new year? It will be exciting, because we really never know what God has planned for us!!
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