MASTER PLAN
WHEN YOU LOOK ALL AROUND
AND YOUR TROUBLES SEEM TO ABOUND
DON’T WORRY OR DESPAIR
GOD REALLY DOES CARE.
SO REMEMBER NOT TO FRET
AND YOU CAN ALWAYS BET
YOU ARE SAFE IN GOD’S HAND
BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU AND HAS A MASTER PLAN.
SO DON’T LET FEAR AND DESPERATION CONTROL YOU
JUST GIVE IT TO GOD AND HE WILL HELP YOU THROUGH.
GOD LOVES YOU AND HE UNDERSTANDS.
THAT’S WHY HE HAS A MASTER PLAN.
SO REST ASSURE THE STORMS WILL BE OVER
AND WITH GOD’S LOVE WE WILL BE COVERED.
WHEN WE HAVE THE LORD IN OUR HEARTS
THEN GOD WILL NEVER LET US PART
WE WILL ALWAYS BE SAFE IN HIS MASTER PLAN!
BY DEB FORBES 2005
Copyright 2008
When I was a kid we went to South Dakota and one of the highlights of that trip was when we stood and watched an artist paint pictures. My parents and grandparents got one but I think the thing that most impressed me was that he used regular house painting brushes to do the paintings and they ended up beautiful. The ones we took home were of deer by a stream in the mountains and they were wonderful. To watch him do it you would think they wouldn't be anything at all beautiful but nothing but a mess, but as he continued on it all started to take shape and eventually turned into a beautiful painting in the end. The artist knew all along what it would look like and that it would turn out just right and beautiful but we by just looking at it at first couldn't see that it would turn into anything at all. We didn't know or see what the artist saw until when what the artist knew and saw in his mind started to reveal itself to us.
It is the same way with God's master plan for our lives. We don't always know or understand what God is doing, but he does and he knows that it is right and perfect for us. We just have to trust that he loves us and has a perfect plan for us. It will start to reveal itself to us, just like that painting did, and in the end we will see the whole wonderful perfect plan God was working in us. Rom. 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."(KJV) This is a promise that all things will work to good when we love God and are walking in what he has for us. We don't have to worry because we are assured of God's love and since he loves us we know that he is caring for us and walking with us in all situations. We don't have to understand but we do have to trust. Prov. 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thy own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct thy paths."(KJV) It says to trust and he will not might but will direct your path. God is good and loves us and will walk with us through out. Just trust in God and his love and eventually his perfect wonderful plan will be revealed to you. PRAISE GOD
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
BE NOT AFRAID
A couple of weeks ago the grandkids and I were talking and we got to laughing about me as a kid being scared of things. I told them of some of the things my brothers and sister had done to me to scare me because I was such an easy target. As a kid I was known in our family as the big chicken, scaredy- cat or what ever else you can come up with for some one who was afraid of everything. I mean I was afraid of my own shadow and my siblings took advantage of that. I was afraid of the dark and that someone would get me. I was afraid that when my sister held a pillow over my face I would suffocate. They would hide in the house and jump out and scare me. I was afraid of the unknown also, like when I got up at night to go to the restroom, I was afraid that maybe someone had gotten in the house and was waiting to grab me. I just wasn’t sure because I wasn’t able to see down the long dark hallway so the uncertainty of not knowing if someone was there or not really scared me.. I was afraid of heights and closed in places, I was really claustrophobic. I truly was a person that got scared easily and by everything.
We laughed and laughed at all the antics that were played on me and how I reacted. Like the time my parents were gone and my sister decided to scare my brother and I. She went to the basement and made a lot of noise so we went outside to go in the garage and see if we saw anything. We got scared and ran back up to the front door and as I started in it there she stood. I was frozen in place screaming. I saw it was her but I was so frightened that what I saw and what my brain was telling me was two different things. Or how about the time when my little brother at night decided to get into the back of our suburban while I was in my parents house and when I came out he sat up and I scrambled out of that vehicle as fast as I could screaming. See they liked to scare me because it was so easy and my mind turned to mush and didn’t register that it was them until it was too late.
I really was afraid of everything and it was traumatic for me to get up at night. My poor grandmother, bless her soul, had to go with me to stand guard at the bathroom door at night to make sure no one was down that hall and was just waiting to grab me when I came out. She was my security and she never complained. She was my protector and security blanket.
I told them that when I got sick at first it was the not knowing what was wrong that was the worst part. I was slowly getting to where I couldn’t breath or stand or even hold my head up and they didn’t know why. I explained how I could have slipped right back into that fearful person but I had my security, my protector , and my Saviour Jesus to help me through.
Is. 41:10 “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”(KJV) See all I had to do was turn it all over to Jesus and he was, like my grandmother my security and my protector. I didn’t have to live in fear but knew that God had it all in control. Psalm 27 says that we don’t have to fear and that the Lord is our strength. Ps. 27:1 “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (KJV) I was frustrated waiting to find out what was wrong but never afraid because I had turned it over to God. We do not have to be controlled by fear but just turn to Jesus and rely and rest in him. He sustains me also with living with my illness so that I still do not have to be afraid. I keep my eyes on Jesus and he gives me strength to get through each day. One of my favorite verses is in Ps 21 and if I remember to do what it says I will be able to face each and every day with out fear.
Ps 121:1-2 “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. (KJV)Leave the fear behind you and trust and rely on Jesus. He loves you and is your strength and help through every thing. Turn to him..
We laughed and laughed at all the antics that were played on me and how I reacted. Like the time my parents were gone and my sister decided to scare my brother and I. She went to the basement and made a lot of noise so we went outside to go in the garage and see if we saw anything. We got scared and ran back up to the front door and as I started in it there she stood. I was frozen in place screaming. I saw it was her but I was so frightened that what I saw and what my brain was telling me was two different things. Or how about the time when my little brother at night decided to get into the back of our suburban while I was in my parents house and when I came out he sat up and I scrambled out of that vehicle as fast as I could screaming. See they liked to scare me because it was so easy and my mind turned to mush and didn’t register that it was them until it was too late.
I really was afraid of everything and it was traumatic for me to get up at night. My poor grandmother, bless her soul, had to go with me to stand guard at the bathroom door at night to make sure no one was down that hall and was just waiting to grab me when I came out. She was my security and she never complained. She was my protector and security blanket.
I told them that when I got sick at first it was the not knowing what was wrong that was the worst part. I was slowly getting to where I couldn’t breath or stand or even hold my head up and they didn’t know why. I explained how I could have slipped right back into that fearful person but I had my security, my protector , and my Saviour Jesus to help me through.
Is. 41:10 “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”(KJV) See all I had to do was turn it all over to Jesus and he was, like my grandmother my security and my protector. I didn’t have to live in fear but knew that God had it all in control. Psalm 27 says that we don’t have to fear and that the Lord is our strength. Ps. 27:1 “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (KJV) I was frustrated waiting to find out what was wrong but never afraid because I had turned it over to God. We do not have to be controlled by fear but just turn to Jesus and rely and rest in him. He sustains me also with living with my illness so that I still do not have to be afraid. I keep my eyes on Jesus and he gives me strength to get through each day. One of my favorite verses is in Ps 21 and if I remember to do what it says I will be able to face each and every day with out fear.
Ps 121:1-2 “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. (KJV)Leave the fear behind you and trust and rely on Jesus. He loves you and is your strength and help through every thing. Turn to him..
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Waiting on the next shoe to drop!
( I had started writing this a couple of months ago and then our series for Church for this 3 weeks is on uncertainty and it fits right in with this, isn’t it funny how God will speak to us so I decided to finish it and post it.)
Have you ever heard this expression of “waiting for the next shoe to drop”? I have, when things seemed to be going wrong my Mother in law would say just wait till the next shoe drops meaning there was more trouble coming. Or how about the expression “just wait you haven’t seen anything yet”. These expressions are of gloom and doom lurking around every next turn where you just know something bad is going to happen, something worse than what is already happening. You just wait in anticipation for something really big and bad to happen. That’s what she was always thinking and we would say now wait you don’t know that something is going to happen but in her mind it had to happen. This is a miserable way to live waiting on something that might happen. Worrying gets you no where when we can’t control the future it is in the hands of God who loves us. Luke 12:25-26 “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?”(NIV) We don’t have to think that something bad is about to happen all the time. It is so easy when it seems things are going wrong and everything is piling up on you to think negative like this but we don’t have to. Rom. 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”(KJV) This doesn’t mean things won’t be tough but it means we don’t have to sit around waiting for the next shoe to drop either. Being negative breeds negativity, being positive breeds positivity.
I have been told just recently that I am too optimistic and joyful all the time, but I don’t know any other way to be. I have peace from God and a hope and knowledge that God makes a way for me no matter what. I choose to be happy and positive and refuse to wait on the next shoe to drop. When I got sick I could have very easily gotten negative and every time a new disease springs up (last count 9) I could get discouraged and think what next or think oh no when is the shoe going to drop, but when I got sick I prayed and God gave me the peace to know I am in his plan for me and I don’t feel that way. Jer. 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.”(NIV) God is with us through everything and we just have to trust in him and know that he loves us and wants good for us. He never leaves us and he knows what is going on in our life. If we can rely on God and Trust in Him then we don’t have to worry or expect something bad to happen, we can live life to its fullest and know that peace that passes all understanding. Phil. 4:6-7 6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)
PRAISE GOD
Have you ever heard this expression of “waiting for the next shoe to drop”? I have, when things seemed to be going wrong my Mother in law would say just wait till the next shoe drops meaning there was more trouble coming. Or how about the expression “just wait you haven’t seen anything yet”. These expressions are of gloom and doom lurking around every next turn where you just know something bad is going to happen, something worse than what is already happening. You just wait in anticipation for something really big and bad to happen. That’s what she was always thinking and we would say now wait you don’t know that something is going to happen but in her mind it had to happen. This is a miserable way to live waiting on something that might happen. Worrying gets you no where when we can’t control the future it is in the hands of God who loves us. Luke 12:25-26 “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?”(NIV) We don’t have to think that something bad is about to happen all the time. It is so easy when it seems things are going wrong and everything is piling up on you to think negative like this but we don’t have to. Rom. 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”(KJV) This doesn’t mean things won’t be tough but it means we don’t have to sit around waiting for the next shoe to drop either. Being negative breeds negativity, being positive breeds positivity.
I have been told just recently that I am too optimistic and joyful all the time, but I don’t know any other way to be. I have peace from God and a hope and knowledge that God makes a way for me no matter what. I choose to be happy and positive and refuse to wait on the next shoe to drop. When I got sick I could have very easily gotten negative and every time a new disease springs up (last count 9) I could get discouraged and think what next or think oh no when is the shoe going to drop, but when I got sick I prayed and God gave me the peace to know I am in his plan for me and I don’t feel that way. Jer. 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.”(NIV) God is with us through everything and we just have to trust in him and know that he loves us and wants good for us. He never leaves us and he knows what is going on in our life. If we can rely on God and Trust in Him then we don’t have to worry or expect something bad to happen, we can live life to its fullest and know that peace that passes all understanding. Phil. 4:6-7 6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)
PRAISE GOD
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Boxed In
How many times have we heard or quoted the verse Phil. 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me? I am sure numerous amount of times. When it comes down to it though how many times do we still say I don't think I can or that isn't possible or I can't do it? I guess we think the verse reads I can do most or some things. I am always saying that people limit me because of me being in a wheel chair and then when I was talking to my Granddaughter a couple of weeks ago about going on mission trips I guess I was caught thinking this way too. We were both saying how it would be great to go on one of the mission trips. I told her as a teen I wanted to be a missionary or go on a mission trip but didn't have the opportunity to and now that I am in a church that has mission trips I can't because of being in a wheelchair. Immediately this voice in my head said " So now you are limiting me in what I can do" so I quickly corrected what I was saying and said I would be able to still if God provided a way for me to go. See I was putting God in a box and limiting what he could do when it came to me. I was not having faith that even where I am God can and would make a way for me to go on the missions trips if that was what he had for me to do.
If God tells us he wants us to do something then we can do it because he will go with us and provide a way for us to complete the task he has for us to do. Our church Saturday with 10 or 11 other churches in the metro area had a serve day and went out and met needs of organizations that are helping people. My husband Mike and the grand kids were going to go work and so I was praying that God would help me not to be jealous and envious of their getting to go and me not being able to and then I tacked on to the prayer that if God could find a job for me to do so that I could help too that would be greatly appreciated. The next day when Mike talked to them about what he and the kids were to do on Saturday he happened to ask if there would be a place for me and sure enough they had a job that I could do in registration. God has answered my prayer and I was so excited. Saturday came and it was to be one of the hottest days of the year yet and with my myasthenia heat makes me weaker and with my breathing problems heat and humidity makes it difficult to breath. I am not suppose to be in the heat or humidity for long because I can get into a crisis easily but I just prayed that God would provide a way. I shouldn't be able to go and then stay out there but I decided not to box God in but trust him and if I was to be there then he would make it possible. God was good to me that day. We got there about 6am and we started in about 6:30am. I was in the sun until about noon but there was a breeze. Mike and the kids worked hard all day and I was able to stay there until 3:30pm right along with them working at my registration table. There was 276 registered volunteers doing yard work, plumbing, carpentry, painting and cleaning out 6ft window wells as well as a number of other things and I was one of them. When we got home Mike and I were talking about how my being able to stay all day and never getting too hot or having trouble breathing or getting to weak was definitely a God thing because the temperature was in the 90's and it was a hot day and I should not of been able to last more than an hour at the most. God answered my prayer and made a way for me to do what shouldn't have been possible for me to do with my conditions. See God has a job and purpose for all of us no matter where we are. We are the ones who put God in a box and limit him in what he can do for us. So next time you feel like God is asking you to do something you don't think you can take the lid off the box and let God do his wondrous works through you. Do not limit God and he will greatly bless you and others around you.
If God tells us he wants us to do something then we can do it because he will go with us and provide a way for us to complete the task he has for us to do. Our church Saturday with 10 or 11 other churches in the metro area had a serve day and went out and met needs of organizations that are helping people. My husband Mike and the grand kids were going to go work and so I was praying that God would help me not to be jealous and envious of their getting to go and me not being able to and then I tacked on to the prayer that if God could find a job for me to do so that I could help too that would be greatly appreciated. The next day when Mike talked to them about what he and the kids were to do on Saturday he happened to ask if there would be a place for me and sure enough they had a job that I could do in registration. God has answered my prayer and I was so excited. Saturday came and it was to be one of the hottest days of the year yet and with my myasthenia heat makes me weaker and with my breathing problems heat and humidity makes it difficult to breath. I am not suppose to be in the heat or humidity for long because I can get into a crisis easily but I just prayed that God would provide a way. I shouldn't be able to go and then stay out there but I decided not to box God in but trust him and if I was to be there then he would make it possible. God was good to me that day. We got there about 6am and we started in about 6:30am. I was in the sun until about noon but there was a breeze. Mike and the kids worked hard all day and I was able to stay there until 3:30pm right along with them working at my registration table. There was 276 registered volunteers doing yard work, plumbing, carpentry, painting and cleaning out 6ft window wells as well as a number of other things and I was one of them. When we got home Mike and I were talking about how my being able to stay all day and never getting too hot or having trouble breathing or getting to weak was definitely a God thing because the temperature was in the 90's and it was a hot day and I should not of been able to last more than an hour at the most. God answered my prayer and made a way for me to do what shouldn't have been possible for me to do with my conditions. See God has a job and purpose for all of us no matter where we are. We are the ones who put God in a box and limit him in what he can do for us. So next time you feel like God is asking you to do something you don't think you can take the lid off the box and let God do his wondrous works through you. Do not limit God and he will greatly bless you and others around you.
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