He’s in the Future

I tend to be a worrier and as a result, I plan because I want to control the outcome. If truth be known, I want to control the future, to know what’s coming and to be prepared for it. To be ready. Equipped. Not caught unawares. There’s no big sin in it save this:

Sometimes it’s easier to trust in myself than God.

That’s the ugly truth and it’s embarrassing to admit I struggle with it, but there you go.

My future seems so real and often I feel as if I Know Best which just proves one thing.

I don’t.

I struggle with this, I really do. I schedule my day, write my lists, plan all the details and get totally derailed when something or someone messes things up and forces change.

Ugh. I’m so not spontaneous.

And the funny thing is, God’s taken me on a life path which has included countless 90 degree turns. I’ll be going along just fine and then everything shifts and He’s turned me in a completely different direction. Back during my years in New York when I was in Musical Theatre, our plans for big careers changed when He took us out of that world completely when my husband and I got saved. My plans for a big family went out the window when He took us down the road of raising an only child. I’m a yankee, I love New York and the northeast so of course God moved us to Florida for 20 years.

I could go on with seismic business and financial shifts but you get the idea. The big thing He’s teaching me (and I’m slowly learning) is this:

God is in my future.

He’s making a way for me before I get there. He’s preparing a table for me, putting all things in order, lining everything up and getting all the details ready.

A job loss? No big deal, God is already working out the details of the next one. Illness? He’s preparing the help we need and putting everything in place. Family issues? He knew they were coming and simply asks us to trust Him and let Him work it out. Career ending change? Just another opportunity to see Him unfold the next chapter.

My biggest problem with all this? I forget He’s already there. I forget he knows all of my days, each of them already written.

I’m learning ever-so-slowly to trust Him. With my future, with my plans and lists and details, I’m learning to set them aside and believe and know all His plans for me are good.

Right now, we’re in a season where things are unclear, the future in flux. Our job situation, where we live, finances, all are uncertain and we feel like they’re on shifting sand. But lately God keeps reminding me of this truth so I figure maybe you could use the reminder too.

He’s in your future.

• Where you see only clouds and mist, He’s the sun shining clear and steady high above.
• Where you see only darkness and stones to make you stumble, He’s the bright morning star navigating the way.
• Where you see only endless desert and hot sand, He’s the oasis and the fresh spring of cool water just over the next hill.
• When the thunder is splitting the sky and the storm is raging, He’s the rainbow just behind the cloud.

He directs our way because He’s already prepared it.

He’s leveled the ground and made straight paths for our feet.

He showed me something else, something I so easily forget. He was there in my past before I knew Him and even when I denied Him. Yet still, He put out His hand, reached for mine and said, “Walk with me.”

He was in your past too! Even if it was ugly like mine, full of sin and self, He knew all about it and loved us anyway.

If you can’t see what’s coming and the future is fearsome and making you anxious remember this:

He loves you with an everlasting love, He knows the plans He has for you and He’s in the here and now and just as importantly, He’s in your future, saturating every moment with His presence.

He’s getting things lined up, putting them in place and He’s only waiting for your trust. We don’t know what tomorrow may bring, only that:

He. Is. There.

Our job is simply to catch up, one day at a time.

Are you a list-maker like me, one who wants to be in control? Is your life on shifting sand? How can I pray for you?