Find Faith, Hope, and Encouragement for Your Walk with God

The weekend started with a few simple words from Rob- we are going to tackle the boxes in the garage. When I heard these words and looked at our garage filled with moving boxes, I felt we had a near impossible task before us. There was no way we were going to go through 19 years of boxes in one weekend. Saturday morning came early as we worked to beat the rain and take advantage of being able to use the driveway to sort through the boxes and at least make lanes where we could walk in and out of the garage. The hours seemed to slip away as my frustration in weak and broken cardboard boxes escalated with every rip or tear of a handle or crushed box found at the bottom of a pile. I lost count of the trips Rob made to the dumpster and couldn’t believe how much artwork and books we owned! That day ended with a truckload of items to donate under a tarp held down creatively since we had yet to find all our tie downs. The next day felt like rinse and repeat. We started early and all the progress made the prior day seemed to disappear as we continued to sort through the remaining boxes. Before long, we not only had paths in the garage, we had sorted all that remained and cleared out more truckloads of trash and donations. The impossible was accomplished. “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty” (Proverbs 14: 23, NIV)

I went to a fundraising event last night and as I listened to the speaker, I heard something that I had never recognized in all the times I had read or heard the story of David defeating Goliath. David knocked Goliath down with the smooth stones and his slingshot, but as he lay on the ground he cut his head off with his own sword. What the enemy intended for harm, God turned as a weapon against the enemy. How did I miss this? I always focused on the size difference and how David was an unexpected warrior. I focused on David’s trust in God knowing that God would give him a victory over this giant. I never thought of how this story relates to this recent season in my life-that what the enemy means for harm, God will use for good. Wow! “David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head…So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.” (1 Samuel 17: 45-46, 50-51, NIV)

This verse stood out to me today, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21, NIV). Many times in my life, including now, I have had this image of all the things I thought were my heart’s desire. Many times I encountered heart ache and disappointment. Every time after I realize God’s plans, I would realize that what I had in my heart was nowhere near as miraculous or purposeful as what God had planned for me. I knew this after Rob and I struggled for 7 years to get pregnant. Many times I questioned why God did not want me to be a mom, it was my greatest desire. Instead, God made me a mom at the perfect moment and gave me our two precious miracles. In doing so, and taking us down this journey, we were able to share miracles with others. That would have never happened if the plans I had in my heart would have come to fruition when I wanted it to happen.