7 Ways to Thrive in Pandemic Times
#6-Anticipate God Opportunities
#7- Step Into Your Future
Amazing how God works! Last week Reen and I decided we really needed an outing. We missed our weekly Date Nights when we shared dinner and the movies or the movies and a visit to Barnes & Noble.
We love Barnes & Noble! We go in, wander the aisles and look for magazines or books on subjects we’re interested in exploring. Then we grab iced tea or hot chocolate, depending on the season, and sit in the café to preview the books before deciding whether to make a purchase. This may not sound like fun to you, but we love it!
So last week we found a Barnes & Noble about 45 minutes away in Delaware.
I was browsing through an unfamiliar magazine when an article about Chip and Joanna Gaines caught my attention. I was fascinated as I felt prompted to read it from beginning to end. And you know what? God used that periodical to place a terrific idea in my mind as to a project I might pursue in the next few days. I have been asking God “what was in my hand?” that He could use as Reen and I transition into our “new normal” (read last week’s blog on the YRL website to understand more.)
It always amazes me that God is ready to speak to us in any and every circumstance and situation if we are open and willing to listen. We only need to anticipate God’s opportunities and not instantly mentally shoot them down, thinking they are “out of the box” ideas.
#6. Anticipate God Opportunities- Some call them coincidence, others serendipity, and many fate. I say to all these, “No such thing.” I call them God Opportunities, “God-winks” a phrase someone once coined. They are God’s supernatural intervention into our earthly world, offering His insight, wisdom, and direction. It is one of the many ways God speaks. If we will simply see life through God’s lenses and realize He is actively involved in every aspect of our lives- all day long- we will hear His promptings.
#7-Step into Your Future-Jesus tells us that when we belong to Him we become God’s friends and reveals things to us we would not otherwise know. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”(John 15:13)
And as God’s friends, He wants us to know Him. He wants us to anticipate His participation in our lives. He wants us to hear His voice, listen and experience the privilege and joy of partnering with Him to fulfill His pre-ordained plans for our lives. From the foundations of the earth, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” ( Ephesians 2:10)
God wants you to follow His lead. When He speaks and gives insight into those good works He has designed you for (by making you feel passion and excited about an opportunity), take the risk! It’s your privilege. It’s your calling.
