I really need to go to bed, but I'm still alert and operational, so, I am writing one last blog post for 2010.
Some people like to take New Years Eve to reflect on another year gone by. For me, that usually happens officially the night of my birthday, since technically, that's when my new year starts. I don't care what the calendar says--January 1 is not a new year for me, since I'm not even six months through my current year of life.
Others spend New Years Eve partying, celebrating, drinking, and in some cases, kissing. While the idea of kissing in the New Year is quite romantic, it's not something I'll be doing this year. I spent the day helping my dad clean the garage, and as a result, partying is the last thing my legs want to do.
Lots of people are nostalgic for the things they've done, accomplished, or achieved. Me, I feel like all I've got behind me is my mistakes, upsets, and wrongdoings; I've grown from them, but still, I wouldn't be who I am today if I didn't have those faults before now.
If anything, I'm nostalgic for the future. I'm not talking about New Years resolutions or my plans for making the best of the next 365 days. I believe my best days are ahead of me, though not because of anything I can do for myself. I believe whatever is to happen will be because God's got a plan for my life, a plan to bless me and not harm me.
And, even if the next year doesn't replicate my most fantastic dreams, I know God is not slow in keeping his promises. Today is just a day, and tomorrow is just another day, and what is a day in God's time? When the time is right, I promise God will keep his promise, every one of them.
Showing posts with label jeremiah 29:11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jeremiah 29:11. Show all posts
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
How God Works in Our Lives
It's difficult sometimes to understand how God carries out his ultimate plan for us. Me, personally, I never doubt God has a plan for what he wants me to be, but at the same time, I know our own choices can take us away from God's plans.
Ultimately, it comes down to our choice to sin or not to sin, because sin separates us from God, and essentially all God wants is to spend eternity with us. In the end, those who have an intimate relationship with God are better off than those who don't.
I've been struggling for several months now about how God's plan specifically works. It felt weird to me that God has a plan for our lives, but we can choose not to follow that plan, and yet God can incorporate our own choices into his plan. He's done it in my life, specifically in my relationship with Shana, as well as other times which I've already forgotten. As observers of the lives of our friends and family, we often feel we see something they're missing, be it a hopeless romance, an abusive relationship, or an untied shoe. How do these choices we watch our loved ones make play into God's plan for their lives--it's obvious in many cases the situation they're putting themselves in is not what God would have them do, but they're so blinded by their own sin and ignorance they cannot accept it.
It turns out, I just needed to ask God for understanding on the matter, as I did yesterday evening. The very next time I read my Bible, right before I went to bed, God gave me the answers I was looking for.
Countless worship songs and hymns have a verse that goes "You are the Potter, I am the clay." I knew they all referred to the way God molds us and makes us into what he would have us be, usually a faithful believer in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
In Jeremiah, I found one of the possible biblical inspirations for those old songs.
Apparently, Jeremiah went to the Potter's house and watched the master at work. It was a pot, said potter turned, only, the clay didn't want to cooperate. I'm thinking it wanted to be an ashtray--get ahead of the curve, since at some point in the next two thousand years, cigarettes would be all the rage. But the potter was making a pot, not an ashtray. With his expert wisdom and skill, he worked with the flaws in the clay to make the best pot he could.
In case you missed the metaphor, God asks if he can do to each of us what the potter did to the clay.
We're all clay in God's hands. His plan for us is to make us into a beautiful pot, not some crummy ashtray. God knows we're not perfect, but God is, and his perfection can be shown in our lives if we'll trust him. Don't settle for an ashtray existence. Embrace all that God has called you to be, a pot.
Ultimately, it comes down to our choice to sin or not to sin, because sin separates us from God, and essentially all God wants is to spend eternity with us. In the end, those who have an intimate relationship with God are better off than those who don't.
I've been struggling for several months now about how God's plan specifically works. It felt weird to me that God has a plan for our lives, but we can choose not to follow that plan, and yet God can incorporate our own choices into his plan. He's done it in my life, specifically in my relationship with Shana, as well as other times which I've already forgotten. As observers of the lives of our friends and family, we often feel we see something they're missing, be it a hopeless romance, an abusive relationship, or an untied shoe. How do these choices we watch our loved ones make play into God's plan for their lives--it's obvious in many cases the situation they're putting themselves in is not what God would have them do, but they're so blinded by their own sin and ignorance they cannot accept it.
It turns out, I just needed to ask God for understanding on the matter, as I did yesterday evening. The very next time I read my Bible, right before I went to bed, God gave me the answers I was looking for.
Countless worship songs and hymns have a verse that goes "You are the Potter, I am the clay." I knew they all referred to the way God molds us and makes us into what he would have us be, usually a faithful believer in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
In Jeremiah, I found one of the possible biblical inspirations for those old songs.
Apparently, Jeremiah went to the Potter's house and watched the master at work. It was a pot, said potter turned, only, the clay didn't want to cooperate. I'm thinking it wanted to be an ashtray--get ahead of the curve, since at some point in the next two thousand years, cigarettes would be all the rage. But the potter was making a pot, not an ashtray. With his expert wisdom and skill, he worked with the flaws in the clay to make the best pot he could.
In case you missed the metaphor, God asks if he can do to each of us what the potter did to the clay.
We're all clay in God's hands. His plan for us is to make us into a beautiful pot, not some crummy ashtray. God knows we're not perfect, but God is, and his perfection can be shown in our lives if we'll trust him. Don't settle for an ashtray existence. Embrace all that God has called you to be, a pot.
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