engage the journey

So here I am, writing my first blog, how splendid! Let's start with something that I used to find bizarre and offensive: Movies that put the end of the film at the start. I mean, that's just wrong, isn't it? I would become so consumed with frustration that I could not enjoy the film. The simple fact that I had paid 6 english pounds for the ticket, 3 for the bag of revels and 3 for the drink that is stupidly oversized but you just feel you have to have (regardless of the fact that it will make you miss 5 minutes of the movie somewhere between the start and finish because your undersized bladder simply cannot take that kind of liquid punishment) only to discover that I am watching the end of film straight after the opening credits, was enough to put me off watching the rest of it. What would be the point? I've already seen the end. More recently my view has changed though. The "finish at the start film" has well and truly won me over. It was stupid of me to think that just because I knew the end I couldn't enjoy the film. Infact, it now makes for a more exciting film: I know where it's all heading but I have no idea what will happen along the way; or how we'll get there.

My life and journey with God is just like that. Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." There have been times in my life when I thought that I knew best - that my way was the only way - my plans would bring me success - my dreams I should chase. Let me save you some time if you're thinking of putting your plans, hopes and dreams above God's. I KNOW that God's way is best. That He does have plans for my life that are beyond my imagination. Do I believe that God created life? Do I believe that that same God stepped down from heaven, to become a man and suffer and die at the hands of those He had created so that I could know Him personally? Do I believe it is true when He said "...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full"? The answer is 100% yes. That being the case, is it possible for me to draw up a blueprint for my life that comes anywhere close to comparing to the one God already holds in His hands?

God has a great plan for my life and I learn more and more each day, through each new experience, to lean on Him. To trust Him in every situation. To proclaim that in every circumstance He is my great romance. Romans 8:28-30 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." God wants me to live my life like Jesus: to think, speak and act like Him.

So I now know where I am headed. My calling is to give every part of me to God so that I may become more and more like Him every day. He has revealed some parts of the plan and some of things that He is going to do with me. But to be honest, I have no idea what the journey in between knowing that God has called me to all these things and actually arriving is going to look like. But this I do know - that I am going to strive to make the most of the in between times. I do not plan to just float through life like a leaf on the wind and one day end up in heaven. God did not save me just for heaven. He wants me to have life to the full here on earth. So I will set my sights on the goal and engage fully the journey to become just like Jesus in everything I do.