His Plans for Us

Yesterday, I went to St. George Island with a girlfriend and was able to soak up some beautiful Florida sunshine!  However, while laying on the beach, I realized that I had lost my keys.  This is a huge rarity.  I do not lose anything.  In my [slight] OCD world, everything has its own place.  Keys are no exception.  Luckily, I had left the door unlocked so that Kim could come by and let Bentley out yesterday afternoon and I was able to catch him before he got to the house to ask him to leave it unlocked.  So, after a 30 minute panic attack, Michelle found them in her purse.  We have the same vehicle so she thought that they were hers.  She lives out in the County, so I won't get them back until later today.  I do have my spare truck key, but since I don't want to leave my house unlocked with my car not here (yesterday it was here because I rode with Michelle) I did not go to church today.  Therefore, since I still need to give my daily thanks to God, today you are going to get my "Georgia Testimony."  I call it that because I don't think God's plans for me are even close to being over.

{Ashely, you may not want to read}

In 2009, I was faced with a professional dilemma in my life.  Budget cuts were coming and it was my job and one other co-workers on the line.  I did what I needed to do to prepare myself, financially and responsibly.  I started looking for another job.  I had even asked my cousin, Ashley, to keep an eye out for me in Thomasville.  She had always teased about her wanting me here with her.  Thomasville was never really on my radar.  I never really put much thought into leaving the beautiful panhandle of Florida or the lower Alabama area where I was.  A large portion of my family was there, all my childhood friends, and all things that felt comfortable and real were there.  Oddly enough, I do beleive that the other person who was faced with his position being cut is still working there.  Oh well, this just goes to show that when God has a plan, He has a PLAN!

I found out that Ashley took the initiative to email Duane at the Planning and Zoning Department for the City.  He then forwarded the email to his boss, to which I received a phone call and then an interview.  Shortly after that, I received another interview and ultimately, an offer for a job.  Obviously, I took the job.  Ashley was thrilled and I still had mixed emotions on leaving everything I knew behind for a new job and a sole family member in a strange town.  However, everything fell into place so easily, it had to be a God thing and when you can tell it is, you don't mess with it or try to intervene with a much more powerful plan.  Remember, we know nothing and he is our Almighty.

I started in August of 2009 and I constantly wondered, thought and prayed "OK, God, why am I here?"  In April of 2010, Ashley found out she was pregnant.  She was SO thrilled!  Joseph, her husband and since this is a religious post I will refrain from calling him what he really is, was traveling a lot at the time.  It was later in April that I was sitting at my desk at 8:30 one morning and Joseph called me.  He told me Ashley still wasn't feeling good and had called him and needed me to take her to the ER.  I left work and took her to the ER, where we found out she had a lot of internal bleeding and a tubal pregnancy. 

OK.  I now knew why I was here in Thomasville.  Who knows what would have happened if I wasn't here.  Please don't think this is a "Way to go, Stacey" post, because it isn't.  Sometimes, we need to realize that it is not what we do for others that should get the praise, it's what we do for other brothers and sisters in Christ, in a loving manner, that makes us realize our placement on this Earth.  We should all take care of our brothers and sisters in need.  We never know what troubles people may have going on in their lives so we should ALWAYS take that extra step to ensure that they are taken care of, just as our God has taken care of us.

Through the loss of her baby, I realized that that was why I was here.  That was why I found it so easy to come here.  Ashley needed me to take her to the hospital and God knew it, of course.  So, after feeling I had fulfilled my God filled plan, I had actually starting thinking of leaving.  However, I had then made a new friend and I enjoyed his company and we really hit it off.  We hung out and had fun until January of 2011.  Guess what else happened in January of 2011...

Ashley's husband decided that he didn't love her any more, this is where I would call him an ugly name again.  God had placed my new friend in my life to keep me here until Ashley needed me again.  Plain and simple.  In February, Ashley moved in with me and has been with me ever since.  I love that girl to death and wouldn't change these months for anything.  I don't adapt to change well, but she has been no problem to adapt to.  When you do things out of love, you don't notice the little things that you usually would when it's based out of a requirement verses love for one another. 

In Jeremiah 29:11 we are told that God knows the plans for us and they are not to harm us, but to proposer us.  When we put full trust in our Lord and we fully believe in the three gifts He gave us, Faith, Hope and Love and trust even more in the greatest of these, Love, we will find our place in life and will fully prosper.  In I Corinthians 10:13, He tells us that He will never let us be tempted beyond what we can bear.  When we let down our earthly shields, we can open our hearts to hear our Heavenly plans God has for us.  Have you let down your sheild lately to listen to your heart?

There is an expression that life has a funny way of turning out, but it really isn't funny at all when you stop and think about it.  When we live our life as God expects us to, the funny part of living is really just us living out our plans.

• Life hurts us
• Life teaches us
• Life makes us grow

But what really happens is:

• God lets us get hurt and get broken down, but will never give us more than we can bear.  This happens so that we can put more Faith, Hope, and Love within Him.
• God teaches us through our faults, our sins and our mistakes so that we can learn to trust Him more and to trust in His word and works.
• God lets us grow. We grow outward with others, inward with ourselves and upward with Him.  These are the relationships to which life acts as an enabler, but it's not just "life," it is our path. 

We also have to learn that our relationships with others are not all different.  They should be equal on the surface and intricately different based on your personal relationship with the person at hand.  I recently saw a post of Facebook that said "Negotiating, compromise, forgiveness and forgetting are all part of Love."  One day, but not anytime soon, I will forgive, forget and probably even thank Joseph for all he has done to Ashley because she is much better with a family that loves her than with a man who has done nothing but hurt her.  I am very protective of her and I still have anger in my heart against him for all that has happened to a beautiful, intelligent, nice and caring beyond her control, young lady before the age of 30. 

As to the other turns of events, I am truly happy and blessed with the life that I have.   Duane, along with his wife and children, have become some of my greatest friends. Ashley, I would do it all again tomorrow.  I love you, you are my sister, you are my family, you were God's plan for me.