God has a plan for your life!

It would be great if once we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior life would be smooth sailing from then on. But, believers like non-believers have ups and downs and go from highs to lows. That is just life!  Our lives are incredibly busy.  Our schedules are rigorous. Our time is short and precious.

I grew up in a Christian home, my parents were good people, but they were not ones to take going to church seriously.  It goes without saying they could have been better role models when it came to praying, attending church and having faith in God. How did I as a child come to have a desire for Sunday school, Church, Christian youth organizations and realize from a very young age I wanted to be a minster? God had a plan.

I am sure Joseph asks the same questions I did as he experienced the ups and downs in his life (Genesis). His brothers hated him because they were jealous of his relationship with their father and Joseph was a young dreamer who delighted in carrying tales on his brothers to their father. Joseph dreamed one day his brothers would one day bow down to him and he was foolish enough to tell them of his dream. This only angered them more.

The brothers were out doing chores for their father when their father decided to send Joseph to check on them. When they saw him coming they began to plot how they could get rid of him. They settled upon throwing him in a well and leaving him to die. They would tell their father a wild animal devoured him.

Some foreign slave traders came along and they changed their plan. They would sell Joseph to the slave traders. Joseph ends up a slave in the Egyptian Pharaoh’s house. Joseph’s time serving the Pharaoh was filled with highs and lows. He had the favor of the Pharaoh and because of circumstances beyond his control the Pharaoh would turn against him. There was a period of time when the Pharaoh placed Joseph in prison.

He was released from prison when he interpreted the Pharaoh’s dreams, dreams that even the wisest men in Egypt could not interpret. Joseph told the Pharaoh that a seven year famine was coming and that he had seven years to prepare for it. The Pharaoh followed Joseph’s advice and Joseph became second in command only to the Pharaoh. God had a plan! 

The famine became so bad that Joseph’s brothers had to travel to Egypt to ask for help. They did not know they would be asking Joseph for help. Remember Joseph’s childhood dream. His brothers bowed before him when they ask for help.  When Joseph revealed to them who he was they became afraid, but Joseph told them not to fear him. He helped his family through the five remaining years of the famine. It was at that time Joseph realized that from boyhood God had a plan for his life and the ups and downs he experienced were preparing him to save the lives of his family members.

Has God shown you the ‘why and what for’ of your life? Even the years that Joseph did not understand the ‘why and what for’ of his life he never lost faith in God. 

We are passing through a time when great changes are coming in the world. America is not as great as she once was. We elect men and women to office that are not fit to lead. People are becoming more hopeless than I have seen in my lifetime. Many are ready to give up and many have given up. It is more important than ever for believers to constantly remind themselves God is still in control and God brings about possibilities that we can yet see or imagine. As Joseph we must remain faithful to God.

In the summer of my sixth year I was attending vacation Bible school when I became sick. It took about five days for my parents to be told I had polio. I spend months in the hospital. I had the best medical care at the time because exactly 91 days before I became sick my family was visiting my sister and an insurance man knocked on the door and persuaded my father to purchase a polio policy. The policy had to be in effect ninety days prior to diagnosis. God had a plan!

At age twelve I told my mother I had terrible pains in my stomach. She thought I was trying to skip school and she told me to get dressed for I was going to school. My sister dropped by and she convinced my mother that something was wrong and they needed to take me to the hospital. We arrived at the Community Hospital in Jacinto City, Texas and the doctor said it was my appendix. I needed surgery right away and they could not wait until my father arrived to sign release papers. The doctor took a legal gamble and took me in surgery. The appendix burst in his hands as he was removing it. God had a plan!

At age twenty-seven I had just finished my deaconate year. I ran six miles every day at Memorial Park in Houston, Texas. I noticed it was getting difficult for me to complete my run and I was totally exhausted when I did. It took several weeks before I was forced to go to the doctor. I was told I had Guillen Barre Syndrome. It is a disease that affects the nervous system. You have paralysis that resembles a stroke. I thought my ministry and active lifestyle was over. For two years I could not walk without assistance. God had a plan!

In my late forties I had by-pass surgery.  The recovery time then was much longer than now and the suffering was far greater. I was to return to work the following day and I decided to burn a large pile of logs on my farm. I intended to use diesel fuel, but used gasoline instead. When I struck the match there was an explosion and I was burned over all my body. Once again I would spend months in the hospital and at home nursing my wounds. I made a complete recover with only minor scaring. God had a plan!

Six angioplasty procedures would follow over the next 15 years and at times I thought of just giving up. God had a plan!

When angioplasty no longer worked and I could not have any more by-pass surgery they began to put in stints. I now have six and the last two were put in after I came to the Philippines. When they were putting in the last two they administered Diprivan Propfol not knowing I was allergic to it and I flat lined. God had a plan!

I was told when I was in my early fifties I would have to take disability Social Security, but I refused to give up. God had a plan!

Just this year I changed cardiologist because I was told nothing could be done for me. I was in the final stages of heart failure and my medicines were at the maximum levels. God led me to a doctor who referred me to another cardiologist and within a few months I was able to get out of the house and go back to church. God had a plan!

My ups and downs have made me a better minister. It is easier to give advice to others if you have experienced similar problems.  It is easier to understand the emotional turmoil they are going through. Of course I wish life had been all smooth sailing, but then I would not be the person I am today if God had not allowed me to encounter difficulties.  I now realize through it all God had a plan and He was always there with me.

What has God done for you? I bet if you give it serious thought you will come to realize that God has provided you many escapes from disaster. God has a plan for your life.

I recently heard a minister say on television, “In the way I walk and talk, in the way I think and pray, in everything I do, I want to honor God by the way I live each day.” I have tried to live my life in that manner, but many times I have failed. Regardless of the times I have failed God never stopped loving me and never turned His back on me. God will do the same for you. God has a plan!