His Plans

The last two weeks as we traveled North for the memorial service for our daughter -in-law have passed with a blur of hotels, phone calls, long days on the road and exhaustion. But the last several days we were blessed to be invited to rest at the lake house of our friends. I had visions of sitting out on the water, just thinking and being alone, but God surprised us with a 100-year flood, and we ended up in the house doing puzzles and just talking, drinking tea and sharing memories. Those moments I tried to capture with the words of a short poem, that I hoped might be a blessing to somebody today.

His Plans / My Plans

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 hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

My plan was for quiet walks
To think long thoughts of sorrows
His was for me to be with friends
To talk about tomorrows

I planned for fishing on the lake
With quiet sunny weather
But He sent thunderstorms and floods
That shut us in together

He planned for me to stand and trust
Though I tried to run and hide
And while I wrestled in the dark
He drew me to His side.

His Plans / My Plans
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright 2024
All rights reserved

God’s Arrival Time

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:25-26 ESV

Our oldest grandson flew home last night from a visit with friends back in Pennsylvania. His family went to pick him up at the airport, and while his dad checked for the flight’s arrival, the younger ones milled around looking for snacks, but, the fourteen year-old, with his newly acquired cell phone decided to begin texting, “Are you here yet Amadeo? How about now? Now? Now? Now? Now?”  Since it was a family group text, soon all our phones began pinging like a popcorn machine at the movies.  While Alex was having a blast, the rest of us were left rolling our eyes. But just then God reminded me that sometimes I am just like Alex. In my prayers I have been asking; “When are you going to fix things, bring evil men to justice and give us peace? How about now? Now? Now? Now? Now?” Maybe Alex’s enthusiastic impatience makes me laugh so hard because we are alot alike. In today’s verse the prophet Jeremiah, shares with us what God had taught him after the destruction of Jerusalem. Thousands of soldiers had been killed, tens of thousands of civilians had starved to death during the siege, and most of the survivors were marched off as slaves. There had been no miraculous rescue or escape for God’s people, and yet in the midst of the devastation, God showed Jeremiah that He was still in control. God’s plan for him was to as Kipling once wrote, “keep your head when everyone around you is losing theirs.”  No matter how bad things get, we must believe that God’s “Now!” is way better than ours and that His goodness and salvation extends far beyond the arrival time we are hoping for in our prayers!

Photo by Palu Malerba on Pexels.com

Building Trust

I do not personally know the Mullett Family, but I was so blessed by this new video on trust that I thought to share it here on Praise2worship. God has brought them through so much, and though their videos are ultra-simple, the depth of their heart and message will really touch you. If you are like me and are working on some trust issues this is thirteen-minutes of your time well worth investing!