God Has a Plan

Growing up in abuse kept me from “planning” a future. It was hard to think about what I wanted to be when I grew up, when all I wanted was the abuse to stop. When fighting to survive the present, it doesn’t leave much room or hope for a future. The abuse continued from childhood into adulthood and lasted many years. This made struggling to survive the major force in my life with little time for believing things could become better.

This was why I struggled to believe that God could or would change my life. Of course, I wanted the abuse to stop, and I wanted God to change my husband. Because of infidelity and my husband’s desire to not remain faithful in the marriage, God eventually brought me out. But I still had to be healed from many years of abuse. And those many years of abuse made me not trust God. I based my thinking of Him according to all the other authority figures over me.

Thankfully God is not like those authority figures. He is not abusive and manipulative as they were. In fact, He is a gentleman and will not force Himself on us. He will not force us to listen to Him or do what He has said to us. So, the main reason He finally brought me out of that marriage was because I was not getting what God was trying to tell me. I had a victim mentality that kept me from seeing my sins. All I could see was what “they” had done to me and to believe that everything was their fault.

God sent Jesus to die on the Cross to pay the price for our sins, but also to destroy the works of Satan. Satan hates us because we were created by God to give God glory, to be made in His image. Satan wanted God’s glory. Satan wanted the honor that belongs to God alone. But Satan didn’t create us, and he doesn’t have our best interest at heart like God does. Satan came to steal, kill and destroy us.

Because Satan had been a stronghold so long in my life with the hate, bitterness and jealousy, it seemed as if he had won. It seemed as if God didn’t have enough power to overcome the works of darkness. But, oh the joy that floods my soul when I see the works of God in my life. He had to deal with me and make me see I had to change. Nothing will change in our lives until we allow God to work in us.

Things may not work out the way we want because God doesn’t force any of us to obey. He convicts us of our sins and shows us what is in us, but He still doesn’t force us to do what He is telling us. However, when we start allowing God to work in us, and we stop focusing on Him making others to change, that is when our circumstances truly change. That is when we see progress and that is when we see God working in us and bringing about the plans He has for us.

God had spoken many things into my life. I felt He dreamed for me when I couldn’t. He had a plan for my life when all I could see was the abuse and the daily struggle to survive it. As God was allowed to work in me, He has healed the wounds from the abuse and took me to the Cross, He is bringing about the promises He spoke to me. He has taught me to trust Him. He has healed the wounds in me. He is showing me that His power is far above that of the devil. After all, God did create Lucifer. God made him to be the most beautiful angel ever, and the pride that rose up in him, was his downfall.

And because of that downfall, Satan wants to take us down too. He wants to do whatever he can to keep us from seeing truth. But God is more than a dreamer. He has a plan for each of our lives. I have a testimony that proves God is real, that His power is far above any and that He can bring about the impossible. And as you allow Him to work in you and change you, you will see circumstances change. He will speak into your life and give you promises that can come about.

Because God will not force us, we have to make the choice to allow Him to deal with us. Many times, it can be a painful process and it may feel like He is hurting you just like others have hurt you, but you must understand that it is God turning what Satan meant for evil, into something good. It is God restoring to you what the devil meant for destruction.

We have a part to play in our lives. It is a choice we have to make. Satan wants us to believe that we have no control and no say in what happens in our lives. We can’t control what others do to us, but by God’s grace and strength, we can come out of the most difficult of situations. We can be healed from all the wounds. And the best part is you will have hope for a future. God has a plan for each of our lives. So, as He has dreamed for us, He will bring those dreams to pass if we will let Him. It is the most beautiful thing in the world to watch as God is able to put a smile on our face and joy in our heart as He not only changes us but uses us to encourage and strengthen others and give them hope.

But we must still strive to get to the Cross as we can go to heaven hurt and wounded, but we will never see that happen if we don’t give our lives to Jesus and accept Him as our Savior. Because of all the abuse, I became focused on making the abuse stop and on healing to the point that making Jesus my Savior wasn’t first in my life. Because of His love for us, for me, He brought about the healing, but He didn’t neglect bringing me to the Cross. For that, all the glory goes to Him. Thank You Lord for making all this possible. Praise God!