Plans

Have you ever felt that a verse of Scripture had become too familiar, ordinary somehow, to the point that you no longer heard it?

I confess that, more than once, a verse has slipped into the ho-hum category for me, and I missed the power, the truth of it.

The 23rd Psalm used to be that way for me, until my mother got sick, and God shook my heart to the core with it. (More on that in a few days.)

Jeremiah 29:11 was another verse that lost its voice with me. I admit that it had become just words on a page, over-quoted on coffee mugs and over-used as the theme verse for youth retreats.

It was a lovely verse for teens, but alas, with little application to me.

Until now.

This week, I got a job offer for a full-time teaching position next year.

Sort of.

The job will materialize if student head counts, state monies, and the stars align some time this spring.

In short, I have a job if God wants me to have one.

It's been a weird week. I was a content stay-at-home mom believing God for His provision, figuring that my full-time school days were over unless the economy ever recovered. Then I got a call to interview, and my educator wheels started spinning.

I've revisited all my favorite teacher websites, mentally arranged the desks in the rooms, pondered what I've learned from being an observer in many classrooms this year as a sub.

My peace got a little un-peaceful in the process.

That's when that old familiar verse began playing in my head.

" I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, " plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Plans.

His plans, not mine.

As unsettling as this process has been, this is right where God would have us.

With Him, a job.

Or, with Him, no job.

Either way, open or closed, the answer is His answer.

Sometime next March, if I'm hating my life, I will know, beyond any shadow of any doubt, that I am where the Lord planned for me to be.

That's a really lovely place to be.

Blessings,
Ginger