Purpose and Plans?

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Purpose and Plans?

Written in 2016 and never published but honestly, it was all part of His plan because the world has only become more filled with insecurity in the past 9 years. He is always in the details that He so patiently weaves into our stories. 

God has a plan and a purpose for our lives, when we seek Him with all of our heart. But what does that look like in the harsh reality of our daily lives? Oh the struggles that we endure, as we wrestle with this issue. Many things work against us, but for me at least, it is a pride issue. The voids that pride leaves in our lives are usually rooted in unhealed emotional wounds. We want to defend ourselves against further pain and promote ourselves to a safe place, where we feel that at last we will receive the love and acceptance that we long for. 

There are several different facets to my pride. But it seems that struggling with how others treat me, is a recurring theme. And not just me, but countless other perceived victims and underdogs. Why is there such pervasive injustice and evil in the world? I know the Bible answer to this question, but how do I keep it from wounding my soul? Maybe, that is not the point. Christ, Himself, suffered the injustices of this world. If my life’s goal is to become like Him, then perhaps that is one of the reasons that He grows us up through the challenges and heartaches of life. 

Another aspect of pride is our insatiable need for recognition, approval and attention. This part of the complex human condition starts early in life and we think that we conquer it in adulthood. But do we really? If we take an honest assessment of our emotional baggage, I would bet that we would find innumerable little packages of pain tucked away. And they would all be labeled with a broken heart-shaped tag. Unfulfilled expectations of love and acceptance can leave huge voids in our souls. And most of the time we ignore them and move forward. But how does this affect our future and how we interact with God and other people?

The short answer to all of these issues is really quite simple. TRUST God with it all. We will never fix it, no matter how hard we try. In all likelihood, we will only make matters worse. So let go, let go today and let go again tomorrow and for the rest of your days, just let go. Trust Him like you could never trust another person. Because, rest assured that men can never be completely trusted. We just don’t have that ability. Perhaps that is why we all have these ugly little packages in our baggage. Since our earliest days on this earth, we have wanted to find someone that we could completely trust and receive in return Perfect Love and Acceptance. Most of us do the best that we can in loving and encouraging one another. But we still fall short and inadvertently hurt other people that we love.

There is only one source of unconditional love and acceptance and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. He will heal all of our wounds and teach us how to find that Plan and Purpose that we all yearn to find. He will show us how to share His love with other people. There are so many truths that He will teach us in this world and into Eternity. We just have to trust Him and He will take care of the rest.