Here in our community of Savannah there are always new homes being built. Right now on our street, 2 new homes are under construction. Just yesterday we were out front watching all these men working, building these new homes. As I was watching I was thinking – how do these construction men know what they are doing? How are they using the concrete, wood, nails, all these things that seem so small and insignificant on its own, putting them together, and turning them into some persons beautiful home? The process is so messy. There is dirt, wood, and nails all over the place. If you look at the lot and what is there you wonder, how do they know how the pieces all fit together? The answer is of course that there is a master plan. The master plan shows that the end result is a beautiful, well constructed home. These construction workers know exactly what they are doing and that each step in the process must be completed before moving on to the next step. They must follow the master plan exactly to achieve the desired end result.
This reminds me of life. We all have a plan, a plan and a picture in our mind for a beautiful life. But things happen in life and our plans don’t go the way we planned or wanted them to go. But the Lord is the builder, the one that has the master plan for our life. In James 4:13-15 it says, “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” In the footnotes of my bible it says “It is good to have goals, but goals can disappoint us if we leave God out of them. There is no point in making plans as though God does not exist because the future is in His hands. The beginning of good planning is to ask, “What would I like to be doing 10 years from now? One year from now? Tomorrow? How will I react if God steps in and rearranges my plans?” We can plan ahead, but we must hold on to our plans loosely. If we put God’s desires at the center of our planning, he will never disappoint us.”
I’ll be the first to admit, I do not like it when plans don’t work out the way that I wanted them to, or that I get frustrated when thing take longer to happen then I expected. But I am in the process of learning to trust in the plans the Lord has for me, to believe that His plans always work out better than I could have ever planned for myself, and that the Lord has a plan and a purpose for everything He puts us through. It is all a part of his Master Plan for this beautiful life He has made for me. So no, the plans as far as I can see don’t always look like that beautiful plan I had pictured in my mind, but that is just because He is working on all those other details that I can’t even comprehend at this moment in life. I am learning to rest in the assurance that God has complete authority in every situation and over every situation that He has put me in. We just need to be still and rest in His perfect Master Plan for this life He has given us.
Savannah Girls (and surrounding areas:-)
My plate of Cookies!!! Oh, they were so yummy!!!
Savannah Girls (and surrounding areas:-)
My plate of Cookies!!! Oh, they were so yummy!!!
We spend the 2 days before Thanksgiving preparing the food (plus Pam had been cooking already before we arrived) - pumpkin pie, pecan pie, lemon pie, fig cake, gingerbread, fudge balls, chocolate cookies, cranberry oatmeal bars, turkey, cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, cheesy corn, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy...I'm sure I missed something.
Mackenzie and Preston even helped cooking their favorite "pink stuff."
Thanksgiving morning we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Aaron and Alex were there in New York for the parade, so they texted us a picture of spiderman floating by.
Barrett, his Dad, and Brantley tossing the football.
Uncle Barrett with the kiddos!
Barrett, his Mom, and I enjoying the perfect weather outside.
We all worked together to decorate the house for Christmas on Friday.
