Friday, December 17, 2004

now you see it, now you don't

I’m glad I can’t see too far down the road, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know about all the things that are going to happen in the next year or my brain and body would go into immediate overload. On the other hand I am so thankful for a dear sister in the Lord who is helping to equip my husband and I in our home and business to plan ahead and mark out the steps to achieve that plan.

A friend and I were talking this past week and she was wishing that God would just show her what 2005 would look like because she wasn’t too jazzed about what 2004 had been. I said to her that I was pretty sure she didn’t want to know. At first she was a little puzzled but then I explained to her what I meant. If I had been able to see into the future a few years ago I would never have gotten out of bed. If I would have known what a roller-coaster beginning your own business is, that I would have a child with serious health concerns, that there would be difficult issues to face in my family, I would not have signed up for my life. At the same time, when I look back and see the changes that God has made in my life and the positive ways that I have been strengthened and encouraged through all those difficulties I wouldn’t change one thing.

Another friend, the one who is helping us with getting our time frames in order was also over this week and working with us. What a blessing it was to look forward and see what we would like to accomplish in the next year and how we’re going to work toward that. I’m guessing that 2005 may be a little less bumpy in our business and home than 2004 was. A dear lady that I have gotten to know through the wonder of the internet has written a little book called “The Treasure of Careful Planning” (Donna Kauffman, the book is available through her website http://djkauffman.com/). Careful planning is just that, a treasure. Seeing what lies before you and laying out the steps to get to where you want to go gives you a path to run on. Proverbs 15:22 says that plans fail for lack of counsel and Proverbs 20:18 says to make plans by seeking advice. We aren’t islands and we need to look ahead.
Back to the other hand, we can make all the plans we want but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails (Proverbs 19:21). Even though we don’t see what’s going to come in the midst of all our planning we can trust that God, the very most careful planner has plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future when we seek Him with all of our heart (Jeremiah 29:11). So now we see it (the plan) and now we don’t, but rest assured God is in control of all of it and will not give us more than we can handle, even though it might feel like it at the time! When you look back and see what God has done you will find that there are precious gems that have come to light in your life that were probably just rough rocks before. He’s polishing us up as jewels in His crown. Plan ahead and look for the Lord’s plan at the same time, they may seem to be in conflict with each other but they aren’t. As we are fond of saying in our church, God is good all the time and all the time, God is good.

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