Are you sure, God?

Jeremiah 29:11

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

This amazing verse is tattooed on my foot. It looks pretty awesome but I got it for more than just how cool it looks. :) I got it because I was at a time in my life where I needed a constant reminder that my life is about more than me. More than what I want.

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our little world: Our family, our job, our plan... That we forget that its not about what we want. Not at all.

This verse is a daily reminder to me that my life is dedicated to something SO MUCH BIGGER than MY plan. Its all about GOD'S plan. And what could possibly be greater than living our God's plan for my life. I know that my simple little dreams could never compare to what God has in store for me.

I had to learn the hard way that sometimes God truly requires that you set YOUR plan aside. COMPLETELY. That is SO much harder than it sounds. Sometimes this is the HARDEST thing you'll ever do. Sometimes God will ask you to sacrifice things that you might have thought were the only thing that mattered.

Now this kind of life-changing sacrifice will take just that... Some serious LIFE CHANGING.

For me, I truly had to rearrange the way that I viewed the world and ALL of my priorities. I used to pray and tell God that He could have all of the areas of my life except one or two that were just WAY too important to me to give over to Him. I mean, what if His plan meant that I would have to lose someone I loved? NO WAY!!

However, what I learned is that if you hold onto something like that and refuse to let God have it, He might just swoop in and take it from you. And you're not going to like that AT ALL.

I am speaking the truth, my friend. I know. I've been there. Quite recently.

What I didn't know at the time, is what God was doing. He was making beauty out of ashes. My ashes.

He had to truly break me down into nothing more than a big messy pile of ashes before He could bring about a new creation.

"Therefore if any person is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away. Behold, the fresh and hew has come!"
2 Corinthians 5:17

Now at first, I was really shaken. I was so unsure on how or why God would allow me to hurt and be broken. I prayed and I prayed and nothing seemed to change. Daily, I sought God and I started to grow.

Each day I started to spend more time on my knees, literally. And more time in the word. I started to crave the word in a way that I never have before. I wanted to read my Bible. And somehow, even though the Bible NEVER seemed to relate to my life in the past, EVERY SINGLE scripture began to apply to my life and my situation. How awesome is it that this book that is SO old suddenly seems to feel like it was written just for me?

My passion and fire for God has NEVER burned so bright in my life. He allowed me to be broken down into ashes so that he could created out of those ashes the creature that I was designed to be.

He reformed my dreams and made them into His plans for me.

I eventually, after A LOT of personal struggle, was able to completely and totally give my ONE thing over to God completely. I told him, on a Wednesday night at church that I'll never forget, standing in the pew during worship, nothing fancy...That He could have it ALL. Not just part of it. Not "only if he let it be my way".

Nope. I told Him that He could have it ALL. And guess what. I MEANT IT.

I felt such a release. God lifted the burden off of me and took it SO far away. I no longer felt obligated to protect that thing that I held so dear.

If only I had known all along that if I would simply let God have it, He would protect it...and do SO MUCH BETTER than I ever could.

He then began to transform that thing in my life and turn it into something I NEVER thought it could be. Wow. How awesome is our God? I mean, really. AMAZING!

Now listen close, no one, in the history of the world, has EVER held onto something any tighter than I did.

But my God is SO much bigger than even the biggest of our fears and concerns. He can take your biggest fear and turn it into something that is so miraculous that you will have to experience it for yourself to believe it. My life has been utterly transformed and I am SO thankful that God gave me the chance to experience His true healing restoring power.