Has your life turned out like you expected it? Maybe you have been blessed to be able to pursue your goals, living your dream just the way you imagined it. Or maybe you haven’t. I suppose I’m the latter. It’s not that I haven’t experienced some wonderful adventures in my life for which I am extremely grateful…it’s just that none of it is really what I had planned on!

My original “plan” for my life was different than God’s plans for me, and He never ceases to surprise me about each new season of life and all it entails. He constantly challenges my thinking, stretching me to grow in faith and courage. I really think that God must enjoy doing the least expected thing when I least expect it, just to see my reaction! :o)

Some days I am totally blessed and encouraged, seeing God at work in those unexpected ways. Other days I am distraught and confused by the challenges I face, wondering why the Lord would “do it this way.” But I keep trying, day by day, to question God less and trust Him more. I keep trying to understand this thing of sharing in His sufferings and embracing all that He has for me in this life even when I don’t understand the purpose behind it. These verses from Philippians are some of my favorite:

“I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things…in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him…that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead…I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Jesus Christ.” Philippians 3:8-12 (NASB)

Life may not go as I wanted or expected it to go, but ultimately has my journey led me closer to Him? Made me more dependent on Him? Made me more like Him? I continue to press on each day, in spite of my own feelings sometimes, to find out what He has for me today, and the day after that, and the day after that.

If I think of God as the Potter and I am the clay, He’s got me on this wheel and everything’s a bit messy in the process. One moment I’m SURE he’s making me into a candy dish, but then a moment later I’m thinking, “No…I look more like a cereal bowl.” But wait, then He stretches me taller and I’m sure he’s making me into a big coffee mug, oh but then it seems like maybe He’s intending me to be some sort of vase, but then He adds a handle, and…you get the idea. Just when I think I’ve figured out what the Lord’s purpose is for me, He continues to mold and shape me all the more. It’s a life-long molding and shaping process. So when will I finally get used to that idea?

Recently I saw this quote by Oswald Chambers that put it so well: "Beware of harking back to what you were once when God wants you to be something you have never been."

All our life, God will continually challenge us to “step out of the boat.” He will ask us to head faith-first into unchartered territory. There is no map - only His voice for our leading - and the Bible as our only instruction manual. He will ask us if we can trust Him yet again to do and be something that we have not done or been before.

So is life going well for you, or do you feel surrounded on all sides by anxiety & despair? How will you choose to respond today, regardless? I pray that we can all choose to respond with great hope, having new-found childlike faith in the God who went to hell and back to save each one of us!

“I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there's one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

“God's loyal love couldn't have run out,
his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
They're created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He's all I've got left.

“God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks.
It's a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from God.
It's a good thing when you're young
to stick it out through the hard times.

“When life is heavy and hard to take,
go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear.
Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face.
The "worst" is never the worst.”

(Lamentations 3:20-30, The Message)