So Much More
“There is so much more I have in store.” Nine simple words that the Lord spoke to me while I was praying recently. Nine words that started me thinking…
One of my favorite scriptures is Jeremiah 29:11 “He knows the plans He has for us…”, and I believe He also wants us to know the plans He has for us. But in order to know those plans, we have to spend time with the plan-maker.
I think of fun vacations that my daughter, Abby, and I have spent together. Our most favorite vacation spot to date is Walt Disney World here in the Sunshine State. We have taken many vacations there together and have so many memories that we still talk about today. I think it’s funny. We have had wonderful opportunities and have visited many spectacular places, but there is something about Disney that we just can’t get enough of. You know what they say, it’s “where dreams come true.” I have great memories of that place as a child, and now memories from taking Abby there since she was not quite yet a year old. It’s no wonder that place holds a special place in my heart. Okay, back to planning. (See? Get me talking about Disney…)
My Abby is actually a fantastic planner. In fact, sometimes I call her the “cruise director”. She is always planning something and is very resourceful and gets the job done! Now that she’s all grown up at 13 (wink-wink), I usually just let her take the reigns as she does a wonderful job organizing and planning details. But when she was younger, all the plan-making fell to me when we would visit the most magical place on earth, and I actually really love that part. Making the hotel reservations, the dinner reservations, planning which park we will go to on what day, which of course dictates what Fast Passes we need for the day.
Sometimes my Mom and Dad would also come along for the fun, so I had a list printed out that detailed every plan we had for every day we were there. We had to pack it all in, right? So I had the plan to make that happen! My point here is, that in order for Abby, my Mom and Dad to know what they were supposed to be doing, they needed to get with me first, the plan-maker, so I could show them the way. Do you get what I’m saying here? I know this is really simplistic, but this is how the Lord deals with me, simplistically, so I can really catch on. Surely I’m not the only one…
Psalm 139:16 (one of my very favorite chapters in Psalms, by the way) says…”all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Please stop for just a moment and meditate on that! How precious of our Father to have our lives planned out for us, day by day, a divine plan, and a divine destination for us! I praise Him for taking such care to cover every detail of my life! Even when we mess it up, He already has the plan to get us right back on track! I’ve shared this before in a prior blog, but the Lord spoke to me once saying, “Don’t be concerned just because of a detour, I’ll get more glory now than I would have before!” If He’s not concerned about detours, why should we be!
I truly believe that as we spend time with our Father, His desires become ours, just like the Bible says in Psalm 34:4, “…He gives us the desires of our hearts.” Like our natural relationships, the more time we spend with someone, the more we begin to take on their thoughts, their opinions, likes and dislikes. (choose your friends wisely! But that’s another blog…) So it is when we spend time with the Lord, we begin to think like Him, desire the things He desires…glory!
Friends we have to be in a position to see what the Lord sees. Especially in oursevles. This simple statement came to me the other day- “Until I see it, no one else will.” Meaning, until I see myself as God sees me, until I see what He has placed inside of me, no one else will. Because if I can’t see it, I won’t act on it, and if I don’t act on it, no one will see it or benefit from it. It remains buried under the surface. When we spend time with the Lord, allowing Him to awaken things in us and as we gain heavenly bravery to step out into what He is calling us to do, we begin to see what He sees. So we act differently. We do things we wouldn’t have done before as we step out of our comfort zone. Then people start to see it. They can see Him in us, working things out, and working things in. They can watch our story unfold as the Father gently beckons us to walk on the water with Him. And as we function in what He’s called us to, He is glorified and draws people unto Himself! Praise the Lord we each have such a unique role in the Body of Christ and there is so much to be done for the Kingdom!
See it, then be it! Remember the phrase I shared at the beginning of this blog, “There is so much more I have in store.”? On the heels of that, the Lord then reminded me of the scripture in Isaiah 54:2, “Enlarge your house. You are going to need a bigger place; don’t underestimate the amount of room that you’ll need. So build, build, build.” Obviously I knew the Lord wasn’t speaking to me about a physical house. No, He was referring to ME.
Where is He telling you to think bigger? To build bigger? To BE bigger? Friend, I believe the Lord wants me to encourage you today- there is so much more that He has in store for you. Enlarge your vision. Spend time with Him so you can see what He sees, then build and grow and be BIG for the Kingdom. Don’t underestimate yourself or what He’s put inside you. There is so much more in store!
