Post II: Back up from Scripture

Ok, so, more thoughts from last week's post.

(A lot of these thoughts are taken straight out of my Bible study book - Live a Praying Life by Jennifer Kennedy Dean)

- The bad things in this life are just things that happen. Yes, they're terrible and often unfair in more than one way, but they are involved with the will of God.
- God is always working out His will in our lives - it's just usually not in the ways we would imagine. How God does his will is up to Him. I cannot control or tell Him how to accomplish His plan. He will do His will in His way.
- Waiting - while I wait for the next step in my life, there are so many things that I want for myself and have prayed for. Usually, I have a plan of what I want to happen and how I want it to happen. And the "bad things" are not ever in my plan and I think that's part of where my frustration stems from.

Through the study from the last week, I have discovered several encouraging verses that I believe back up my thoughts on God's Will and refresh my faith that God does know what he's doing.

1. Genesis 37 - Exodus 1: The Story of Joseph - God told him that he would bring about great things in his life. Joseph did not know that he would be thrown in a hole, sold by his brothers who hated him, be the servant of the king, be wrongly accused of a crime, and go to jail all before "good" things started happening. After this he became a great rule and spared the country from famine. But I'm sure that he didn't see his life of greatness for the bottom of a pit where his brothers argued over how much they were going to sell him for.

2. Romans 11:33-34: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out.

3. Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.

These verses remind me that while I may have absolutely no understanding of what God is up to, that He still knows. That He is still in control and that I just need to remind myself, mostly daily, of the plans that He has for me - to give me HOPE and a FUTURE.