Isaiah 14:24 "The Lord almighty has sworn, 'Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen.'"
I was sitting with my dear friend Linda in her new house tonight, talking about her upcoming wedding, and couldn't help but think how different things were for both of us not too long ago.
Just a few short years ago we were both single moms (along with our friend Christy) who spent many nights throwing together dinner with what we each had in our cabinets, carting each others kids around from place to place, and saying to one another, " God has a plan, we just have to be patient. It has to be in His time."
These are not words that you want to hear when you are so lonely that you think you can't take another night with the empty space beside you or you long to have someone that wants to hear about your day, whatever it had been. And, let's face it, your kids really aren't too concerned with the lecture you got from your boss or the thousand things that could and did go wrong that day.
But, I wouldn't trade those days for anything because in them we learned lessons that prepared us for the things that God has given to us now. The blessings and purposes that He had planned. We learned to be better mothers, we learned about what we could have done differently in relationships, we talked each other "off the ledge", we prayed and cried and prayed some more, and sometimes we just sat together not doing a thing. We learned the value of ourselves and the strength that we had. We learned how important it is to have other women in your life that are in the same situations and how we could help each other.
Now, we see God's plan revealed, His purpose that is coming to pass. We are both about to get married, and Linda and her Scott just bought a beautiful home. Despite some of our choices that got us into bad situations, God did not forget His plan and purpose for us. His desire to give us good things did not go away, but he used the difficulties to grow us and change us...to prepare us for the futures He planned.
And this is just beginning...I can't wait to see the rest of His plan!
