Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever"
I thought wow, what an appropriate reminder for the front of a calendar. I looked back in the calendar at all the things that I had planned and thought, isn't it great to know, and be reminded every time I look at this calendar that Jesus is the same no matter what. No matter what things I write in here, no matter what events grace the pages of this "planner/calendar" Jesus is the same. Whatever I might plan, and whatever actually happens, Jesus remains the same. So many times we feel like God is only close to us in certain times, or maybe not at all. Or we feel when something bad happens that is when He is the furthest away. We tend to put Him in this box and only call on Him when it is convenient for us. We sort of put Him up on this shelf and occasionally get the box down and say, ok God, I'm ready for you to be in my life again. Raise your hand if you have done this. (Don't worry no one can see you, oh wait maybe they can :) )I will be the first one to say that I have done this. In fact up until recently that was pretty much how I lived my whole life. Praying, only when I wanted/needed something, talking about my faith, only when I had to. But you know what, God was always there all along. He has been with me no matter what. He was always the same. It was me who was changing, or the circumstance in my life that changed. I have talked about that point before, but I just thought it was a good reminder and so relevant to my life right now. Hopefully it means something to someone else too.
Isn't it funny how sometimes we have a plan for our lives that just seems to go completely different than what we thought. If looked back at my calendar for the previous year (which is something I never do, it's too painful, hence the new calendar) I would see numerous events and things that happened that did not go how I had planned. In light of all these events Richie and I have decided to make some changes in our lives. I have come to realize that if you make plans without consulting God first, you might find that the plan you had for your life doesn't seem to happen the way you thought. And sometimes God has to get us back on track.
A few weeks ago either Richie or I, I can't remember which one of us approached the other, and said "You know, I am not happy with what I'm doing in my career right now, I really want to be making a difference for God." The other had been having the same convictions also. We both were feeling the nagging that what we were doing was not right. Once we came to this realization, and submitted ourselves to God's will, things started to happen almost immediately. Within two weeks Richie and I both have new jobs. Our lives are headed in a completely different direction than what we had planned. Richie has decided to go back to school, to Louisville Bible College, to become a minister. He wants to do some sort of grief counseling. He is going back to work at Morton's The Steakhouse, where he used to work, so that he can work in the evenings and go to school during the day. (Can I just stop for a second to say how proud of him I am). I am going to be a preschool teacher at Portland Christian School, where we went to high school. They have a great new program for 2 1/2 to 5 1/2. Click on the link above to check it out (under the admissions tab). I will be able to serve God by teaching his children. It is such an amazing opportunity. I absolutely love this age group and I couldn't ask for a better place to work.
Some of you might think we are nuts. After all, we both quit our jobs, for lesser paying jobs, added paying for school, and with no idea what health insurance would cost us. The amazing part is that we were not scared a bit. We both so confidently knew this is what God wanted us to do, we knew He would work it out. I am so excited to tell you that, He did. Just a little over a week after everything was set in motion, Richie received a letter telling us that he would be receiving some money, almost the exact amount needed to pay for all of Richie's schooling to completion!! Praise God. This was so humbling and amazing to us. It just goes to show you that if you submit yourself to God's will, He will make the way. That's not to say that you won't experience any set backs along the way. The path might not be easy. We have experienced that ourselves. We still don't know what we will do for health care. We also found out our mortgage payments are skyrocketing. Only God knows what will happen. We can confidently rest in the fact that we are doing what He wants us to do, so things will be alright. Some of you might ask "how do you know what you are doing is right?". Well, all I can tell you is that if you really pray about it, and really seek what God wants for your life you will find it. And if you don't seek it, it just might find you. I always used to wonder when people said "it's God's will for my life", how they knew. You just know. When you earnestly seek His heart, you know. If you still aren't sure, pray about it some more. Eventually you will start to see the signs. You just have to pay attention.
I am not telling you any of this to glorify me or Richie. I want the glory to go to God. We had to learn some lessons the really hard way. I hope by telling people about our story, maybe some of them won't have to learn the hard way. If even one person is reached or touched by what this blog is about, then it is worth it. Thank you all for reading!!
Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."
No comments