guidance

God of the Plans

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

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 a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

God of the Plans

To understand the plans of God and walk the way He said
Had always been a hope for me
Since I was just a kid

But life's great complications
Like children, bills and wife
And all my dumb decisions
Left me in a mess of strife

I couldn't seem to get a grip
Of God's great plan for me
And live a life like saints of old
Who always seemed to be
Accomplishing a lot for Him
Who died on Calvary

My struggles swept me far from shore
Till I felt lost at sea
And then I heard my Savior say
Just trust and follow Me!

God of the Plans by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright 2021 all rights reserved

“Far better to trust in the God of the plans than to struggle to know the plans of God” Peter Caligiuri

When Our Lord Leads the Way

/ pastorpete51 / 7 Comments 
 
When Our Lord Leads the Way

 In the Fall with the frost
 Flocks of birds Start to form
 Preparing to fly
 Before Winter’s storms
  
 Though the path of their flight
 Is unseen and unclear
 Their heavenly controller 
Plots their course every year
 And if those birds know 
Which direction to stay
 How much more we 
When our Lord leads the way

When Our Lord Leads the Way
by Peter Caligiuri Copyright 2021
All rights reserved

Even the stork in the heavens
    knows her times,
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane
    keep the time of their coming,
but my people know not
    the rules of the Lord. Jeremiah 8:7 ESV

The Pathway to the Barn

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

Thy word is lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

When I was a teenager I lived for a few years on a farm in Southern Missouri. Each of us had our own chores and mine was to milk the cow. It would have been far easier to run across the road to the milk barn when it was light out, but in order to be ready to leave for work on time, I needed to get out of my nice warm bed and get started by 4:45. If the moon was full, it wasn’t hard to see and I could easily pick my way up the familiar path. But on dark moonless mornings, though I knew the way by heart, I needed the beam from my flashlight to find where to place my feet for each step.

Now fifty years later, I am still getting up long before daybreak but the pathway of 2021 feels far darker than any of those walks to the barn. Our own family’s issues, the ever changing national health crisis along with my own personal struggles loom on the horizon feeling like the shadows of a massive mountain range. Fears and doubts, decisions and demands lie waiting to be confronted, decided and met full on. But there is hope because God has given us a promise that He will light the path. We may not see well enough to run ahead, but His word will show us the way to take the next step. Then, even more amazingly He adds the even greater promise that He will not only light our path but that He will walk with us on it ,step by step, all the way to the barn.

God bless you each of you and Happy New Year. May you find the next step that He has reserved for you in this year that lies ahead!