God’s dreams are not just different, but better than ours!!

What will we do when we find out our time frame for our long-term goals doesn’t match God’s?? Over a week ago now, I was having a rare, fairly “slow” morning, and decided to pull my most recent (though most always neglected) diary off its shelf to flip through and read some old entries I had written. A few lines of one in particular caught my attention. I couldn’t help but think of the topic for this issue of Shining Stars when I came across my second-to-last entry, dated March 21, 2006. I’ve always been inconsistent about writing in my diary – its somewhat of a drag to write to yourself about yourself and all the events of your life that you already know happened, right?! ? I was reminded how quickly time passes, as three years had gone by since I wrote that, and it had been almost two since the last time I wrote in it before that.

When I wrote the following, it had been almost seven years since my Grandpa on my mom’s side had died. We were all very close to him, and he had lived with us for the six months that he wasn’t in Florida. I was reflecting on all that had changed since that time. Anyway, here it is:

“I was in the girl’s (my sisters, Hannah and Naomi’s) room the other day, gathering laundry… I was thinking of how much had changed since Grandpa has been gone. The “little girls” are both teenagers now; Hannah… already more than half-way through with the teen years. I was looking around at the camo… theme and realizing that Naomi’s one real-looking doll was all that was left of their once pink-and-lace, doll-filled, toy-strewn, little-girl paradise of now already so many yesterdays ago. That happened fast. Sometimes I wonder how it is that I am 24 and still at home, so much the same and yet so much different. In my little-girl dreams, I would be married….6 years by now with a few kids. But God knows better than me and there are ways in which I am thankful I did not get married at that young age. (my then-idyll eighteen ?) I have changed so much since then, hold different beliefs, believe I have gotten saved, and would have picked (meaning by the choice to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to someone pursuing me) a totally different man. Also, God has used

by Ellen Wyman

my trials and experiences and getting my heart broken…to draw me closer to Him and build my faith, which is something I am thankful for. And for that I am extremely grateful. I may never know all the reasons things went the way they did; but one thing I am confident of is that God knew I needed to grow and I am sure there is yet a lot of growing to be done”…

Looking back at my life so far, alongside of the joy, laughter, spiritual victories, and (hopefully by God’s grace) growth, there are also a lot of things I wish I’d handled differently. There are new things God continues to show me, areas where I know I’ve not chosen right, things I struggle with, and times when in wanting to do the right thing; I now realize I went about it the wrong way. But I continue to find it amazing to know that as long as I’m striving to please God to the best of my ability in making decisions; God is in control ultimately and He can make right where I have gone wrong.

Psalm 138:8 says, “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever”

The Lord really used this in my life awhile back and continues to encourage me with it. Another one I was recently blessed with several days ago is this:

“The Lord….does no wrong. ……and every new day He does not fail”. (Zephaniah 3:5)

Isn’t it funny how you can read the Bible over and over, and every time, it seems you see something new?! The phrase “every new day” just jumped out at me from the written page. Every new day, we have opportunities to please God right where we are. For those of us who are still at home, in the family we began with, every new day is just that – a day of beginnings. Girls, “every new day” was written for us!! These words are true regardless of surroundings, situations, stages in life, who we spend it with. There are those who would hear the events of some of my un-happy endings and debate whether or not it is within God’s perfect will for a girl to have her heart broken and that she should only give it away to the one she will spend the rest of her life is.

I will admit that I have wasted time and opportunities thinking the horizon of the next stage in life as it were, was closer than it was. There have also been times of being frustrated and feeling broken as yet again, it eluded me. All I know and can say for sure is that for my life, I know some of the ways He has used some of what I have gone through to teach me and get me to run to Him. There are always better and worse ways. But though wisdom chooses the best, we are imperfect people in an imperfect world. Even in seeking to use the best method we know how, there are no guarantees that those we love will be with us forever, a promise only God can fulfill. Though life has seasons, it is also a daily walk with the Lord. God never promised us no pain, and in pain He knows how He will use it to get us where we need to be with Him.

So, yes, I also think He could purpose something in life for the reason of using it to teach us. How are we, at times, as humans, to know if He planned it or worked through it despite our failures? Do we always need to? 1 Corinthians 7 encourages those of us who wish to be married that it is a good thing! But some of our lives are proof that it may not happen within the time frame that we would have chosen; and we must remember that God knows what He is doing. I realize and understand that many hold different beliefs about how to use this time in their lives. A growing number of girls have chosen jobs to fill in at least a portion of that time. But I know that there are also those of us out there who have chosen the path of believing God will use what we do from our homes and home-based outreach; that it is where we should be and the environment we should work out of. It’s so encouraging to hear from all of you out there and know that we’re not alone in this!! Because we are the minority, we must encourage one another as this choice fades from unpopular to unheard of; a non-option. And for all of us, those in both groups and all other single girls who pray for marriage and their own families, it is hard not to view the so- called in-between time as a “waiting time” for those of us who have marriage as a goal; but in Christ, I try to remind myself, we are never really waiting to live for Him; we strive to please Him and live out His plan for us “every new day”!

Taking a step-by-step, or an everyday approach to life in our thoughts can help us to realize God has a plan for us every new day! When that day is over, if we have done right and we know we have pleased Him, we know that ‘every new day’ He has not failed. Do all you can where you are! God has you there for a reason. You can miss and waste the most important opportunities God brings your way today by dreaming about tomorrow. It sounds so simple, but taking life one day at a time is to trust Him and in His timing. We can waste life by setting our goals for “one day”, letting that consume our thoughts and distract us from following God right now, even in all the “little” things He brings our way! Sometimes the things we view as big and little are exactly the reverse of how God views them. Since we can’t yet see it, sometimes it takes faith to believe the following: believing that God not only can, but is, fulfilling His purpose for us ‘every new day’ is realizing that His dreams for us are better than ours; and because He can see the whole picture and how each thing affects so many; they go beyond anything we could ever ask for or imagine. Truly, the statement God knows better than me is as true for my life today as it was almost three years ago, as it always has been; as it will be for as long as I am here walking this earth.