The Plans of God
I don’t always see God’s hand working in my life. When I look back upon my life, I can see His hand all over the place as He directed my path. I grew up in Casey Creek, Kentucky and went to college in Knoxville, Tennessee. I spent nearly six and a half years in Tennessee in college and in ministry. I then moved to Whitesburg, Georgia for five years. After that I moved to Carrollton, Georgia and I’ve been there ever since. I would have never predicted where I’d be and what I’d be doing when I was a young man finishing up high school. I felt called into ministry and I feel like even as I pivoted seventeen years ago and became a REALTOR, the Lord has still been using me in ministry. During the hardest times of my life, it often felt like life as I knew it was over. The Lord took the pieces of my life and He built something beautiful out of my brokenness.
He did the same thing with Ruth. He actually does that a lot – it is Who He is and how He often operates. Ruth had lost her husband after just ten years of marriage. Her husband was a foreigner. She loved her mother-in-law and stayed with her through the most difficult time of their lives. They moved back to Bethlehem and through some amazing plans of God, she becomes the Great Grandmother of David. Check this out…..
13 So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. 14 Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. 15 May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!”
16 Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own. 17 The neighbor women said, “Now at last Naomi has a son again!” And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David. (Ruth 4:13-17 NLT)
This journey just warms my soul. This sweet virtuous woman remains faithful to her values and her mother-in-law and the Lord honors her with a godly husband and a place in the historical lineage of King David and ultimately the very Son of God! I don’t think Ruth had a clue just how God was going to use her. I think she just lived her life, consistent in character and faithfulness to Naomi. I don’t think Ruth would have met God without her mother-in-law, Naomi. To go even further back, she wouldn’t have met Naomi, if Elimelech and Naomi had not moved to Moab, several miles from Bethlehem.
I believe the Lord weaves the journey of my life into something He can use for His honor and His glory when I trust Him through the good and the hard things life hands me. I remember the struggles very vividly. I remember some of the highlights as well, but through it all, I have sought to walk with Him for my whole life. Even in the midst of this epic pandemic, He is faithful, and He is with me. He will use this for good. I don’t believe He causes bad things to happen, but I do believe He makes good come out of bad things 100 times out of 100!
Pressing On!
Dwayne