God's Stepping Stones

"Trusting God does not mean believing that He will do all that you want, but rather believing that He will do everything He knows is good." -Ken Sande

"An evidence that our will has been broken is that we begin to thank God for that which once seemed so bitter, knowing that His will is good and that, in His time and in His way, He is able to make the most bitter waters sweet." -Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Over the past seven months God has done a lot of refining in my life; refining both that has been painful yet pleasurable and in the midst of it I have learned more and more personally the struggle of trust and patience. I know that I have spoken often about these two topics as they are continual battles in my own walk with the Lord; yet I have been so encouraged by the past few months and how God has radically, and I mean RADICALLY refined me in these areas.

Looking back just two years ago I was the typical type-A personality figure, the person who looked like she had it all together, and thought she did too. I was strong willed, and although a child of God, pretty driven as to what "I" wanted in my life. Although God had broken me of many things up to that point, I still seemed to think I had some amount of control over my dealings despite my belief in a sovereign God. I guess I just couldn't wrap myself around the idea of sovereignty, and that to this day I still don't understand fully. I remember expecting so many things to go certain ways and as God began taking "my" dreams and "my" desires away, He began refining me in ways I never imagined. My passions and desires began to change in varying degrees and the idols of my heart began to be knocked down. I realized that the brokenness of a contrite spirit was precious in His sight. I saw how in my moments of weakness and utter dependence, or I should say reminded of my utter dependence, is when I saw the power and majesty of our good God. He began a process of refashioning me that is still taking place up to this point, and I am sure will continue on until the day I meet Him face to face. Looking back I can see His hand moving yet in the moment I saw nothing but the step right in front of me, the obedience that was being commanded and the hope and belief that He was sovereign, although God knows there were times I didn't know how it would really work out for my good. Yet He did, He was always faithful. Jerry Bridges once said, "[God] is at work in all the circumstances of your life to bring out the good for you, even if you had never heard of Romans 8:28. His work is not dependent upon your faith. But the comfort and joy that statement is intended to give you is dependent upon your believing it, upon your trusting in Him who is at work, even though you cannot see the outcome of that work." How true this became in my own life!

Jeremiah 29:11-14a
"'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord, ;plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord."

All throughout Scripture we read the promises of God. Many of us have seen this specific verse on cards, calendars and graduation announcements and chances are that many of us have even used it to encourage others or even ourselves; it is the promise found in Jeremiah 29 that brings both hope and assurance that the God we love and trust is working all things together in His providential faithfulness. We may even liken the promise found here to that of Romans 8:28-29 as we are reminded that God is working everything for the good of those who love Him. I personally have always been extremely encouraged by this passag in the Old Testament and have always reminded mysef of His faithfulness through passages like this.

So that brings me to today, to Jeremiah 29 and to the promise I want to encourage you with and the lesson God has so graciously taught me that I hope you too will be privleged to learn...taking it once step at a time and trusting God to lead! What I mean is that, God leads only one step at a time and asks us to trust Him. I am reminded of the stepping stones I used to have on the side of my house when I was little, you jump from step to step hoping that there will be enough, in fact expecting that there will be enough to lead you through the mud and back onto solid ground, but you don't see where its leading, you know the final result but you don't know what will come up along the way on that path of stepping stones. Same thing goes with God, we don't see where He is leading us specifically, we know that in the end we will end up in heaven with Him but we don't know where our lives here on this earth will end up. I don't know where I am going to be in two years from now just like two years ago I didn't know where I would be today but I know the promise of Jeremiah 29, and although this may not be specifically for us as it was written to the captives, it is a promise that is true of the character of our God for ALL of His kids.

It is really exciting when God sanctifies you to a point of actually REALIZING that you are completely dependent upon the Lord. Now obviously we are all dependent on Him, whether you realize it or admit it or not. Obviously God is sovereign and in control of all things, again whether you realize it or not. But there is a sweet sweet peace and fellowship with the Lord that comes when one of His kids comes to the realization and understanding of this Truth, when God sanctifies you to a place of truly being eager to take each step not knowing where the stepping stones may lead. It is exciting to be taught of the Truth of this and actually desire it! I can honestly say I am at a place where I desire to be leading a God that I can trust but don't know where I am going, I honestly can say that I like being in the place of the "unknown" so to speak; it is leaving me more and more in awe of my Father in heaven and making me long for Him more and more day by day.

So whether you are in rain or sunshine, whether you see the two steps in front of you or you can only make out the edge of the one right ahead, I urge you to Trust Him, be patient my friend, take hope in His Word and in the character of the God of Jeremiah 29 and remember that each stepping stone has been laid perfectly by the hand of the all-powerful and all-mighty God...you have nothing to fear! And Iremember , "God’s plan and His ways of working out His plan are frequently beyond our ability to fathom and understand. We must learn to trust when we don’t understand." (Jerry Bridges)