Tag Archives: god has a plan

December 14, 2016 · 4:00 AM

Equipped 


Inadequate. That’s how I felt going on my first survival camp out. I was allowed to bring anything I could fit into a small bandaid box to survive with over a weekend. I didn’t know where I was going or what I would have access to. But once I arrived, I scouted a pond and was able to use fishing wire and a hook I had packed to catch fish. The knife inside helped me to clean it. The foil square I put in there made a great skillet to cook the fish with. It turns out that everything I needed to survive was already with me. 

Inadequate. That’s how so many of us feel when it comes to being a “good” Christian. We don’t know where we are going or what we’ll have access to in the future. We often feel unqualified and unequipped to do what we feel God has called us to. We question whether we have what it takes to live out our faith. Our feelings of inadequacy hold us back in our faith, our calling, and our life. The truth is that God has given each of us all we need in order to do exceedingly above and beyond what we think.

I Corinthians 1:7 says, “Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ” (NLT). You and I have been given EVERY spiritual gift we need. God knows what plans He has for you and has already given you those gifts. It’s up to us to unpack them from our bandaid box, develop them, and use them the way they were intended. As you become more mature in your faith, your ability to effectively use the gifts God has given you will increase. 

You may not see your giftings right now, but they’re there. If you’ve never taken a spiritual gifts test, I encourage you to look one up online or ask your pastor about one they trust. I Corinthians 12:7 says, “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.” That means that you are gifted and God wants to use those gifts to help someone else in their faith. The word “inadequate” doesn’t fit any of us so quit believing it and applying it to your life. “Equipped” is a better word for who you are. 

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

July 28, 2016 · 5:46 AM

Higher Ways 


The company I work for is constantly making changes in how we do things and what we offer our customers. I remember how early on in my career I would get upset with the higher ups because I didn’t think the changes were good.. I would say things like, “What are they thinking? Why would they do that? Why do they put us in this position? We are the ones who have to face the customers!” As I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve come to learn that those decisions were best for us as a company and for our customers. It turns out they look at everything differently.

I’ve learned to trust their decisions over time, even if I don’t understand them. I could say the same thing about God. There have been changes in my life that I haven’t cared for. Things have happened to me that I didn’t understand. At the time I prayed, “Why God? Why did you let this happen to me? Why did that person have to be taken out of my life? Why am I having to go through this? This doesn’t make any sense to me!” Looking back over my life, I see what God was doing in most cases.

Just like I’ve learned to trust the higher ups at my job, I’ve learned to trust God in situations I don’t understand. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “‘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’” (GNT). God sees things differently than we do. His thoughts and plans are way above ours. While we are simply looking at a piece of the puzzle, He’s looking at the photo on the box.

He knows how everything in your life needs to fit together. He knows what needs to happen to prepare you for what’s coming in your life. Each of us has a choice to make. We can either question His every move in our life that we don’t like or we can learn to trust that He sees the bigger picture and is working things out for our good. I’m not saying we are going to understand why things happen. We just need to trust that He does and that should be enough. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,