One year ago today I published Thanksgiving and Gratitude. As you can see in the popular post list to the right, this post is the second most popular item I shared in the last 12 months. If you have not read it or don’t remember what I wrote, I would highly recommend you take a minute to read it so you will understand the context of what I want to share 365 days later.
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. 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 seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:11-13)
Do you believe this?
Seriously, do you believe this?
Or is this something you acknowledge in public then privately keep control of the wheel rather than doing what Carrie Underwood suggests?
For most of my adult life, I was in control of how I lived and who I served, both of which centered totally around me. And in the times when my life spun out of control as a result of the choices I made away from God, He was the one I ran to hoping He might fix what I broke…after all I was going to church every Sunday!
Oh how flawed was I in my thinking!
If you have read the section under the tab About Leveraging Life, you see a reference about Leveraging Life-my story where I describe how
my world went sideways—then upside down—personally, professionally, and physically.
It was then when I realized my plan was not working and maybe, just maybe, God’s plan might be the better plan for me.
Over the next four years in an effort to find clarity, I found God–not in a religion, but in a real personal relationship with my Heavenly Father. I found grace; I found mercy; and I found the first glimpses of what trusting someone other than myself actually looked like.
Did it happen over night…absolutely not!
Do I always do it completely…read my cancer confessionals and you’ll see it is a day-to-day decision!
But I only have to look at my life now as compared to those 365 days I mentioned in the opening paragraph to see how God’s plan is SO FAR GREATER than anything I could have ever conceived!
-The “close friend” mentioned in the original Thanksgiving & Gratitude post is now my wife and best friend…someone who inspires me and challenges me to be the man God created me to be.
-Shari’s sons’ being a part of my life fulfills a dream I had long ago given up on.
-Despite the trials I faced with my cancer, chemo, radiation, and multiple surgeries, I learned to trust God period beyond the point I thought I was capable of.
-I’m a part of an extended family I adore, and Shari is a part of my family in a way I always hoped my spouse would.
-The platform that is Leveraging Life is something I may never think I’m worthy of, but the opportunity to share my journey and the life lessons learned with the hope they might be leveraged for the benefit of others is something I consider to be a blessing. And I’m passionate to learning more about what it is to blog with a purpose and growing as a writer.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)
My life is evidence that God’s plan is immeasurably more than I could have ever dreamed of or asked for!
What is your story? How has God’s plan for your life been so immeasurably greater than what you could have imagined for yourself?
~Tom
trusting God period!
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