A Leap of Faith

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares theLord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

5Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

How true these verses are. A year ago today I had to put my faith in God's plan for my life and walk away from a job I loved. I had just been passed over, again, for a job I was the most qualified for. After 8 years, I had had enough of waiting. My heart was broken and my spirit was crushed. The job I had applied for was perfect for me and I would have been able to use my degree and my love of kids, but that was not the plan God had. As I sat and listened to my former boss telling me that they had chosen someone else, I knew it was time to leave. Angry and broken hearted, I told my supervisor I needed to leave, I called my dad and I come home. As I sat in from of my computer fuming about what just occurred, I felt defeated and ready to give up. My hands shook as I typed out my resignation (effective immediately) and hit the send button. That was it, it was done. I would no longer be working in a job I loved, no longer wishing and hoping that one day I would be the children's librarian. Now what?

I wasn't completely out of employment. I could still substitute teach, something that I liked but again I knew that it was a dead end. After years of trying to find a full time job as a teacher, I knew that subbing was just that. I would never be hired as a teacher either. 

Flash forward to now, I am working in a job I love, teaching as a sub for two districts, volunteering at the museum, and building a travel business. God works in amazing ways and His plan for my life is all that matters. I have been able to travel and enjoy the times with my friends. In the last year there have been many tears and lots of anger and frustration. It is so easy to allow myself to become bitter and resentful but what is the good in that. There were times when I wanted to call them up and beg for my job back, to try to go back to the way things were, but there was a reason I left. I believe that God removed me from that situation for a reason. After a year, I am able to walk back into the library without feeling hateful. I am able to talk to my former boss without wanting to scream and say all the things that have bounced around in my head for a year. My life is good. God is good. 

The point I am trying to make is this: you may be in a situation where it seems like God had turned away, that He has forgotten you. That is the furthest thing from the truth. In these times Satan begins to whisper in your ear, "You are not good enough, you will never be good enough". I know, I've been there. I've been to the point of questioning why everyone else seems to get to do what they love and I don't. Know this: God has a plan for your life. It may not be what you plan but His plan is all that matters. He wants only amazing things for you. I think of David and how God continued to protect him from King Saul, how He helped David to be patient until the time was right for him to become king. God is working in your life, whether you see it or not. We all have a choice about the situations we are in; you can either let it defeat you or you can trust in God and claim the victory in Him. The past year has taught me that God is working and moving. I see it in my life and I see it in the faces of the kids at church. He is so amazing and He had a plan for all of us. Trust in Him and He will give you the desires of your heart.

A Heart Problem.

Abraham Lincoln once stated that a house divided cannot stand. The United States of America has become a house divided. No longer are we "One Nation Under God" instead we have become a country of labels. We have become a nation of hyphenations and that has become all that we are worried about. We no longer look at each other as fellow countrymen but as members of "that group". We label ourselves and others as black, white, Christian, Muslim, Gay, Straight, Democrat or Republican. What happened to just being American?! That's what used to make this country great. We were a melting pot of cultures and religions. Now our nation has become a group of hateful, arrogant mudslingers. 

We live in a country where people scream in outrage when an animal is killed to save a child's life and yet every day babies are cut from their mother's womb and there is no outcry because it is seen as a woman's choice. We have presidential candidates who scream about gun control and call each other names while groups of citizens are killing each other in the streets. We continually send money and support to other countries and yet we have veterans who can't get the services they need to adjust to civilian life. We sue everyone for everything causing medical costs to skyrocket. There are protests about blacks not being represented in film and tv while people with disabilities continue to be left out completely. The film industry continues to make movies more and more violent while the tv industry continues to air disfunction everywhere. Old shows are removed because they display the Confederate Flag while others shows that use derogatory terms towards whites are still aired. 

The bottom line is that we have a heart problem in this country. We are so busy pointing fingers at each other that we have no time to look at what the real problem is. There is a God shaped hole in our country. We have turned away from the values and principles that once made this country great. We have taken God out of our schools and Christian values are continually mocked. No longer to we have a "greatest generation". Instead we have a group of people who have a sense of entitlement.  We as Christians are in the fight of our lives for our country. We, now more than ever, need to be praying for the leadership of this country and for its citizens. The coming election scares me to no end and I pray every day that God will be at work to bring HIS person to office. We need to pray for our country. We need to pray for our soldiers and our first responders. We need to pray for our leadership and most of all we need to pray for each other.