Hey Everyone,
How many of us have heard the so-often repeated phrase, "God has a wonderful plan for your life"? I'm guessing most of us would run out of fingers AND toes if we counted how many times we've heard or read this well-meaning summary of Jeremiah 29:11 ("For I know the plans I have for you... to give you hope and a future....")
But how many of us feel as if we've actually discovered this plan, or are even living it out?
What does the "plan of God" look like in one's life, exactly?
I have to admit that I envy the people who seem to have been given a straight and narrow road map to follow from early childhood. I've met a few people who pretty much "knew" what God called them to do, and their lives, for the most part, seemed to go "according to plan"--they became a teacher, got married, had 3 kids...
But for most people I know, it hasn't exactly worked out that way. First of all, many people I talk to have no idea what God "has planned" for their lives. Second, even if they think they know "their plan", they have no idea how to go about it ("God wants me to marry and have a family, but I'm 35 and don't have a boyfriend/girlfriend yet.")
Finally, what happens when and if you actually "discover" the plan, and get to live it out--does God's "plan" change for you over the span of your lifetime? (What would "the plan" look like when you're 20 vs. when you're 60?)
Questions to consider:
1. What is God's plan for your life? What advice have you received as far as how to find it?
2. What are you doing to follow this "plan"?
3. Do you feel God's plan for you has changed over the years?
Personally, my life hasn't turned out anything like what I thought my "plan" would be.
Sometimes I wonder if what God really offers most of us is an "Unplan"--something kind of like, "Don't get too set on any one thing, because there are several changes I'm going to make along the way, and you're going to have to let go of (unplan) several of your own ideas for your life."
Thoughts? Experiences? Something to share?
I would love to read what you have to say.
How many of us have heard the so-often repeated phrase, "God has a wonderful plan for your life"? I'm guessing most of us would run out of fingers AND toes if we counted how many times we've heard or read this well-meaning summary of Jeremiah 29:11 ("For I know the plans I have for you... to give you hope and a future....")
But how many of us feel as if we've actually discovered this plan, or are even living it out?
What does the "plan of God" look like in one's life, exactly?
I have to admit that I envy the people who seem to have been given a straight and narrow road map to follow from early childhood. I've met a few people who pretty much "knew" what God called them to do, and their lives, for the most part, seemed to go "according to plan"--they became a teacher, got married, had 3 kids...
But for most people I know, it hasn't exactly worked out that way. First of all, many people I talk to have no idea what God "has planned" for their lives. Second, even if they think they know "their plan", they have no idea how to go about it ("God wants me to marry and have a family, but I'm 35 and don't have a boyfriend/girlfriend yet.")
Finally, what happens when and if you actually "discover" the plan, and get to live it out--does God's "plan" change for you over the span of your lifetime? (What would "the plan" look like when you're 20 vs. when you're 60?)
Questions to consider:
1. What is God's plan for your life? What advice have you received as far as how to find it?
2. What are you doing to follow this "plan"?
3. Do you feel God's plan for you has changed over the years?
Personally, my life hasn't turned out anything like what I thought my "plan" would be.
Sometimes I wonder if what God really offers most of us is an "Unplan"--something kind of like, "Don't get too set on any one thing, because there are several changes I'm going to make along the way, and you're going to have to let go of (unplan) several of your own ideas for your life."
Thoughts? Experiences? Something to share?
I would love to read what you have to say.
