How often do I go through the day and say, "If only ___ would change, then I would be happy"? Or, "if I could only have ___ then I would be happy"?
I was recently convicted by a line in a book I am reading:
“We forget that God’s primary goal is not changing our situations and relationships so that we can be happy, but changing us through our situations and relationships so that we will be holy."(Paul Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands, 241)In the book of Jeremiah, God says,
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)Knowing this doesn’t make the trial I’m going through any easier. Knowing this doesn’t take away any of the pain or sadness I can feel because of a situation. But, knowing this does give me hope that my Father has a plan established for my life and that He is working to make me more of the person He wants me to become.
All I can do is call upon Him, seek Him, and rest in His lovingkindness. Then somehow there is peace in all the craziness of life.
