My plans

The best made plans always can fall through. Sometimes we get hurt, sometimes we get bruised. This life is no game. It hurts, it cuts, and it disappoints.

It disappoints. Well that’s the truth right there.

Sometimes you just want to kick every can in your path because...

well...

just because.

You really just want to take it out on some inanimate object... like a can.

There is really no reason.

You have so much to be thankful for here. You have family who loves you, friends who love you, and a God who loves you. But somehow it all seems like a far away dream. Something in the distance.

The disappointment starts to bring tears.

You can’t stop them because you don’t know what causes them.

Somehow though, you feel ridiculous. I mean, come on Jacob. God has a plan. Yes but.. but..

His plan isn’t my plan.

There we go. That’s the problem.

My plan.

I just want my plan to work out because it’s...well...mine. I mean, come on. I’m comfortable with it cause I designed it. “Designed with Jacob in mind” is at the end of each script I write for my life but yet here He comes, breaking through my plans and saying, “nope not today buckaroo”.

But should I really get upset? No. Do I though? Yes..

He has a plan. It’s not signed, “designed for God by God” but it says “designed for Jacob by God.” I don’t understand why things happen the way He designed.. Why so much hurt and pain in my friends lives, in this whole world? Why do good plans fall apart? Maybe just maybe because he knows what is best for me and I can’t see that right now.

Lord. I don’t understand why you had things happen the way they did; why you came crashing into the scene and changed my plans but help me to see through the discomfort and be able to bring comfort to the hurting all around me. You have a reason and I don’t even ask to see this reason. All I ask is that you help me to trust and obey you. I love and thank you for showing me what needs to change in my life. Help me to trust you. I love You, amen.

Unfailing love

“How many years have you planned this moment here?”

This thought struck me when I first heard this song.

Have you ever thought about how much God truly loves you? I rarely take the time to just sit down and be amazed; amazed by who He is, what He does, and how He loves.

How many years? How many of the endless years when there was no such thing as time did God plan to show Himself to us in the little things? Maybe He used the field of budding flowers glowing in the sunshine to send me a love note. Did I catch it or did I miss it? Perhaps it was a little special child's smile and voice brightening up your day or maybe it was that starry night, a sunny day, or a random note from someone you love. All these things are whispering a deep, unnoticed tone we can find all around us that says:

“I love you. Through all this world I’m saying I love you and nothing you ever do can earn that love. Nothing you do can ever secure your salvation. It is all up to Me and child, I will keep you; I will keep you safe in My everlasting arms. If these arms hold all the universe why do you think that I can’t hold you? Nothing you do will ever separate you from My love. You can’t run, you can’t hide, and you can’t sin enough that I will reject you. My Son’s blood reaches down and erases those stains from you my child and you are white as snow in My sight. Don’t forget me as I am coming for you. I love you as a husband loves his bride and searches for her. You, not everyone, not the universe, not religion, YOU child are at the center of my heart and I will never, ever forget you.”

Somehow, I’ve heard all this before. You know how you become so familiar with something you forget it? The amazing thing is God knew, before I forgot, that I would forget and that’s why He gives us a chance to see again. To behold His love for us once again as if it is the first time.

Take a moment to see for the first time again.

God loves you, and me so much. I want to challenge you to join me tonight, tomorrow, and everyday you can to just take a moment and relish God’s love. Look for Him in the small things. Start a journal that just remembers all the ways God showed His love to you because His love is the only reason we have to keep going, and shine a light in a dark and dying world.

“May my motto be Father Lord,
Loving because I’ve been loved.”