Day 22: He Never Disappoints

As I begin to write this devotional I am sitting down but still dancing and trying to contain myself. I didn't even know what to title this devo because I simply cannot think of anything except THE GOODNESS OF JESUS! You know when you go to your favorite restaurant and you've been waiting for your food then you finally see the server walking towards your table with a steaming hot meal for you, and you do that little happy dance in your seat? Or am I the only one who does that? Anyways, that's what I feel like right now because of the faithfulness of the Lord, because of the way He has so powerfully blessed me and wants to bless YOU... and He NEVER disappoints.

Six months ago I saw myself in a very different place than where I am today, but God is so good and He answers our prayers and fulfills His promises in His perfect ways and timing. And, let me tell you what, the ways of the Lord are mysterious but what is NO mystery at all is His unconditional goodness. I usually don't like to make these devotionals about what's going on with me, but I feel this testimony needs to be shared.

Months ago I was engaged to be married, I was planning on, obviously, that marriage happening, to move to that city where the guy was, to work whatever best paying job I could get my hands on, and to continue to wait for God to make a way for me to work in the area I felt called to, which is working to rescue victims of sex trafficking and to writing more frequently in order to spread the truth and love of Christ, which I assumed would be a few years out at least because of financial situations, etc. Little did I know what God was beautifully orchestrating behind the scenes of the plans I had foreseen for my future.

"You dream too little, Child... Don't you remember Who I am?" I could hear my Heavenly Father saying. So I agreed to lay down what I perceived my future looking like and I stepped out in faith by being obedient to what the Lord asked me to do. Though I am no longer engaged or planning on getting married soon, and there is nothing in my life (by human standards) that indicates that will happen anytime soon, and I don't know what is next, I know what is now and I know God is good. God answered my prayers, and today I am now the online outreach leader for a ministry called Redeem. We work to rescue victims of sex trafficking and help women get out of prostitution. Today I share the love of Jesus with these women and offer them a life of freedom. Today I sit here and share the love and truth of Jesus with you through writing. Nothing I did on my own could have caused this dream of mine to come true, except prayer and God's faithfulness.

God often answers our prayers in ways that we ourselves would not have answered them and in timing we most certainly would not have set. But God sees the big picture. He is all-knowing and all-powerful and if we genuinely believe this God we proclaim is truly good, then we must trust His ways and His timing. He is saying to each and every one of us, "Child... you dream too little. Don't you know Who I am?" Don't you know His plans for you are good? Don't you know that the dreams you have for yourself can never compare to the amazing plans that the Creator of the moon, stars, planets, oceans, mountains, the Creator of all has for you?

Dream outside the sphere we live in. What? Yep, you heard me. Dream outside this world we live in. Dream heavenly dreams. Where things look impossible to us on Earth, God is looking at us thinking, "Don't they realize that what they ask of me is so little compared to what I want to do for them?" Pray those big prayers. Believe the God you claim.

Tonight I watched God answer the prayers of the deep parts of my heart. I watched Him use me to set the captives free, to tell His daughters of who they are and Whose they are, to see lives transformed by the love of God. I saw seeds planted, seeds watered, and flowers bloom. I saw the fruit of persistent prayer. I saw the beginning of spring after a time of cold, lifeless winter.

Here it comes. You see it being born? The new life, the blessings, the promises? This is only the beginning of my story, of your story. And I cannot wait to see how the rest turns out because I know we have an author, an artist painting our story, that is good and faithful. Will things always turn out how we think they should? No, they will turn out better because God sees it all, desires to give you the absolute best, and you can rest in knowing that in the end...He never disappoints.

"For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland." Isaiah 43:19

"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"

Romans 11:33

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Romans 8:28

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Cami