God is Good Like That
Eight years ago this weekend, I made the decision to quit my full-time job. It was a hard decision, but I did it not knowing how it would all turn out. I just knew it would turn out okay. I thought God was directing me to something new. I thought my health coaching career would take off. But it never turns out exactly as expected, right? Since I quit my full-time job, writing has been my thing.
Seven years ago this month, I started writing this blog. Hundreds of posts have been published. Writing has been a way for me to process what God is doing in me, around me and through me. I published two books during this time as well. Not sure if there will be another book in the future, but right now, it’s not happening. Who knows what the future will hold?
These last eight years have been a blessing, but it’s also been stressful. I have used all the money I saved while working in corporate America for twenty-five years. Three and a half years ago, I started working a part-time job in the natural health world that I truly love, but it doesn’t pay much. The financial stress hasn’t eased much. However, God has used these last eight years to teach me about trusting Him. I never know from one year to the next how I will manage to meet all the bills from month to month, but somehow God provides just enough to get by. God is good like that.
My corporate job was a financial budget analyst. Finance is one of my strengths but also one of my weaknesses. It has been a major stumbling block at times. I can worry about finances when things are looking a little grim. Sometimes, I believe I have provided for myself when things are going well. My security can be found in my savings account or my stock portfolio instead of my true security in Him. When it is all stripped away, I can rest assured in the fact that God is my rock and my refuge. I can trust in Him alone.
It’s taken all these years to believe it in my heart because I have trusted in Him to see me through the lean years. God provided the means in the “fat” years so that I could be sustained in the early part of the lean years. He prepared me for these lean years. I didn’t know it at the time, but God was working out a plan that I didn’t know I was following. God is good like that.
Throughout the Bible, we see God take people through some stuff in order to be useful to Him in the future. Joseph comes to mind. Joseph had a dream that eventually came true. But the years from seventeen to thirty were difficult for him. Abused by his brothers, sold into slavery, sent to prison; but it was nothing like the dream. Yet, God was working the plan to make the dream come true.
Moses too had a bright future. It would take eighty years for the plan to unfold for him. He must have needed more time to “season” than Joseph. Yet God was working His plan in Moses’ life. At eighty years old, walking in the desert one day – God calls him into his purpose. “Go and set my people free.” Joseph saw this day before his death. Joseph instructed his people to take his bones with them when they left Egypt (Genesis 50:25) because God will come to their aid. And just as Joseph predicted, 430 years later, God sent Moses to lead them out of Egypt with Joseph’s bones in his possession (Exodus 13:19).
God may also have a hard place for us to endure for a time to season us for His purpose. We may not understand it at the time, but it’s a time of patient endurance that will bring us the greatest blessing if we just hold on to the hope we possess in Christ Jesus. Jesus said He would complete the work He started in us so hold on for that day. I am still holding on. I am still waiting for the dream to come true (hopefully it won’t take another twenty years to see it happen). How about you?
God said He would do it – trust Him. He is faithful and true. His Word shows us in the smallest of details, His plan is still unfolding and we’re a part of it. We just need to let God work it all together for our good and for His glory because He will do what He said He would do. God is good like that.
My prayers for you are full of praise to God as I give him thanks for you with great joy! I’m so grateful for our union and our enduring partnership that began the first time I presented to you the gospel. I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began this glorious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you and will put his finishing touches to it until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ! Philippians 1:3-6 (TPT)
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