Soon as I woke up this morning, my first clear thought was that it was time to do something I’ve been thinking about for a bit now. It was just a clear thought of… it’s time to do this. This is what you’re going to do. And, I just said, yes. Yes, Lord, I will. Can I have this timeframe and I had complete peace about it. Not worrying about the logistics of the thing but just saying yes and knowing the rest will fall into place.
Then the next thing that grabbed my attention, which shouldn’t have this early in the morning was an email, which I never look at that email this early in the morning, but it was another circumstance that was coming up on my plate and popped up in my email. Complete and clear direction – you’re putting that on hold for now so you can focus on these other things that I have in front of you right now. Okay, Lord. Yes.
After I got the fur babies out to potty and got the coffee and sat down to spend a little time in prayer and reading this morning, my Bible opened up to Jeremiah 31. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a passage that is new to me. Practically the entire chapter is highlighted in yellow and I think there has been another somewhat recent post about this chapter that I’ve written in the last couple months.
This morning, I feel like I was drawn back to it. It was right there. All highlighted in yellow for me already. Reminding me that the Lord has plans for me. The Lord has good and amazing things for me. Just like He does for you too! It doesn’t mean they will be easy or without challenge but they will be worth it! Definitely worth it!
Below are just a few verses … they are so exciting if we stop and apply them to our life… our actual life. When we think about where we’ve been, the circumstances that have played out in our lives over the last while. The challenges we’ve faced and overcome.
Take that moment to look in the rearview mirror that I spoke about in a previous post. Really look to see where you used to be. Who you used to be before you walked through the latest fire in your path. Remember for just a moment what it was like to be that person. Then look at the mirror in front of you. Man, I know it’s a different person looking back at you!! After what you’ve been through, how can you NOT be, right?
I hope when you take that moment of reflection that you smile at where you are today. That you are proud of who you are today. All the stuff, it shapes and molds us into the person looking back at us. The fires we walk through, they singe off the edges, just how God needs them to, to shape us a little more into the person He wants us to be. No matter where you are, smile and be proud because you are still here. Smile and be proud for the journey you’ve been on. Smile and be proud and love that person looking back at you… because God is proud of you and because God sure does love you!
I am so very thankful that God is a God that uses the circumstances of our lives to teach and guide us. Sometimes it’s H.A.R.D as anything we’ve ever done in our lives. Sometime we might doubt ourselves. Sometimes we might not know if we are going to make it with any grace at all. But what I’ve learned is that sometimes the journey is ugly and clumsy and not lady-like and doesn’t have any grace to it whatsoever. But you know what… we just do the best we can with where we are and we keep taking the next baby step forward, holding the hand of Jesus. That’s what we do. That is all He expects from us, I think. That’s all. And every single one of us can do that. That, we can do.
When the time is right, in His time. He will give us the next steps of our journey. He will bring some restoration to our lives. Sometimes it’s with things falling into place. Sometimes it’s just a natural progression of things that fall into an alignment that are so right they have to be God. And then sometimes it’s just clearly knowing from the depths of your soul, this is a next step I need to take and here is a path I need to put on pause.
Peace. Simplicity. Restoration. It’s good, good stuff.
Much Love ♥️
Michelle
Jeremiah chapter 31 – Hope for Restoration
1 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they
will be my people.
2 This is what the Lord says:
“Those who survive the coming destruction will find blessings even in the barren land, for I will give rest to the people of Israel.”
3 Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself. 4 I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel. You will again be happy and dance merrily with your tambourines.
33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,
says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on
their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
35 It is the Lord who provides the sun to light the day and the moon and stars to light the night, and who stirs the sea into roaring waves. His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and this is what he says: 36 “I am as likely to reject my people Israel as I am to abolish the laws of nature!” 37 This is what the Lord says: “Just as the heavens cannot be measured and the foundations of the earth cannot be explored, so I will not consider casting them away for the evil they have done. I, the Lord, have spoken!
38 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when all Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me, from
the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 A measuring line will be stretched out
over the hill of Gareb and across to Goah. 40 And the entire area—including the
graveyard and ash dump in the valley, and all the fields out to the Kidron Valley on the
east as far as the Horse Gate—will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be
captured or destroyed.”