{"id":21768,"date":"2017-11-25T00:05:24","date_gmt":"2017-11-25T08:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=21768"},"modified":"2017-11-20T12:08:02","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T20:08:02","slug":"november-25-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/11\/25\/november-25-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"November 25, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cJesus answered and said to (Peter), \u2018What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.\u2019\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0John 13:7<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Going On?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Protesting Peter. We\u2019re just like him, aren\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t get it, Lord. I thought my life would go a certain way, but instead it\u2019s going like this. I don\u2019t understand what You are doing!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,\u2019 says the LORD\u201d<\/i> (Isaiah 55:8). Plainly, whatever we think should be done, and whatever way we would choose to accomplish our ways, is not what God thinks or does.<\/p>\n

What a relief! Let me share just one example of how this has played out in my life. All my life, I have loved to write. Everyone said to me, \u201cYou should write a book!\u201d That stuck in my head as the end-all reason for writing. It was the best and highest goal of a writer\u2014to write a book. I pursued that passion for a time, frustrating myself time and again, ramming into roadblocks as I pushed ahead. I thought my choice of a future was from the Lord; I thought He was putting a desire in my heart that He would fulfill.<\/p>\n

One day, I was asked to contribute my writings to these daily devotionals. I immediately felt the \u201cYes\u201d from the Lord. I sensed His pleasure as I wrote. I read the comments by faithful readers that told me something I wrote had ministered to them. Something changed for them. Something was explained to them, and they expressed their thanks.<\/p>\n

This is not the outcome for every writer, certainly; but for me, I could see what God was doing in allowing the earlier frustration and roadblocks. I didn\u2019t understand it. I thought I would live my life as a writer of novels, but instead I am in daily ministry to the women in the church body God has placed me in. This is incredibly fulfilling. I know I am walking in what God has planned for me at this time of my life. I didn\u2019t understand for a long time, but now I do.<\/p>\n

Not only am I writing in ways I never anticipated, but I have been allowed to share my life with you, and some of you have shared your lives back with me by the comments you leave about your struggles and pains and fears. We are living in community with one another. It is a great joy to speak into your lives. My heart is full of love for you all.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so glad Your thoughts are higher, better, more productive, more useful, and more life-changing than ours, and that Your ways bear more fruit than ours ever would. Help us to be patient as we await that future understanding You promise. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>

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