When we are young, we always dream of what we would like to be. We start to choose and desire things that we think are best for us. But what if those plans fail? What do we do? How do we act?
We often hear “epic fail” in this millennial age. The phrase connotes an embarrassing situation or something amounting to total disaster. Truth to tell, that was how I described my life before I got to discover the Lord’s purpose for my life.
I considered myself a failure then. Well, I had my reasons. I had my personal timeline. I always thought that I’d be the planner of my goals. I’ve had lots of plans for my future and always dreamt of getting a degree, of working abroad, and of taking along my family with me. But these plans never happened. These disappointments broke my heart. Frustration and anger ate me up whole. I came to the point that I played the blame game: I blamed my family. I blamed others. I blamed the situation. I blamed myself – of having come from a broken family.
But I was reminded by God’s Word in Jeremiah 29:11 (MSG), “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out – plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”
This verse made me understand that none of us is secure in this world except if we are in Christ. Yes, everything may become uncertain, but when those dreams and plans are surrendered to Him, an assurance of joy, protection and a secure future await us.
The MORE we try to process our plans on our own, the LESS we understand how the Lord does it.
“My thoughts,” says the Lord, “are not like yours, and My ways are different from yours. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are My ways and thoughts above yours.” – Isaiah 55:8-9 (GNT)
Reading this passage made me change my heart and my mind. I decided to trust His ways, to just believe even if the situation is unclear. “For My thoughts are higher than your thoughts,” God says.
Little did I know, He was already working in my life in ways much better than what I had originally dreamt of. Currently, I am given a privilege to serve Him as a bass guitarist and, at the same time, He has allowed me to keep a stable job that helps me bless my family as well. Being able to worship the Lord and encounter Him even offstage is something that is rare and seldom found elsewhere.
I have learned to love God more and to seek His heart. I no longer live for myself but for the fulfillment of the Lord’s greater plans for my life and for the generations to come.
Start dreaming for the Lord today. “He does not change His mind about whom He chooses and blesses” (Romans 11:29). God loves us so much and He purposes to bring us into the fulfillment of His plans in ways we can only imagine.
