Hello and welcome back to Second Chance to Live my friend. I am happy to see that you decided to stop by to visit with me. Thank you. I am honored by your presence. In my experience, I have found that life too is a process, not a destination. God has the big picture. In my experience, I have also come to realize that God has used everything that I have encountered during my lifetime to prepare me to do what I am doing today. I like the illustration of the tapestry. On one side of the tapestry, we may only see a jumbled group of mufti-colored threads — that may seem make no sense to us. On the other side of the tapestry God is creating an expansive and wondrous demonstration of His grace in our lives.
In my experience, I have come to realize that my circumstances are being used to encourage, motivate, empower and instill hope in me. My circumstances have and continue to prepare me for lessons that equip me to take advantage of opportunities as they become available to me. Opportunities — in turn — lavish upon me what I could not learn otherwise. These lessons provide new circumstances that give me experiences to teach me new lessons that prepare me to take advantage of fresh possibilities and opportunities. Collectively, I have seen how my circumstances, lessons, experiences and opportunities have been used to point me in the direction of my destiny — one day at a time.
In the Old Testament, there is a verse that stands out to me in the context of what occurs in my life. Genesis 50:20 states, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” As we look closer at what Joseph went through with being thrown into a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, put in prison and then raised to be a high ranking official that ultimately led to preserving his family we see what did not appear to be fair, being used to bring Joseph to a position to be able to bless and serve many people.
What I have discovered through my process is that what I thought was meant for my harm, has been used for my good. Consequently, I have come to realize what occurs in my life God is not allowing to be done to me, but for me. With my awareness, I have come to realize that regardless of what occurs in my life (time) – accepting that I do not have the big picture — is for my good. Jeremiah 29:11 reminds me of this reality. “For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for good and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.” Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Because we put our trust in Him, we know that we are called according to His purpose. Because we are called according to His purpose, we can trust that all things are working together for our good. Because we are called according to His purpose, and that all things are being worked together for our good, we can be assured that God has a good plan for our lives, to give us a future and a hope.
With my understanding and awareness, I am able to look for the silver lining – in my circumstances, experiences, lessons and opportunities — to encourage, motivate, empower and instill hope in me when things occur in my life that I may not seem fair or seem to make sense to me. In September 2008 I wrote an article to share this principle. I would invite you to read my article and let me know how the article speaks to you Why Dark Cloud appear in Life.
Here is my Contact page. Send comments and questions and I will respond to you.
Receive more articles like this one simply by clicking on Subscribe to Second Chance to Live by email.
Bookmark and Share Second Chance to Live with your friends through a Feed Reader
All material presented on Second Chance to Live is copyright and cannot be, copied, reproduced, or distributed in any way without the express, written consent of Craig J. Phillips, MRC, BA All rights reserved. Expressed written permission is required to re-publish material presented on Second Chance to Live Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND
Leave a Reply