Keep moving forward!

I could kick myself for not writing in so very long, but it wouldn't change things.  So, here I am about to make up for lost time.  I hope you are all enjoying this precious life we've been given and seeing the beauty and blessings that lie all around us.

I often find myself planning my day and week.  To me, if it's planned there's a better chance it will go according to plan and it will work.  We are a busy family and have lots of places, practices, games, and clubs to attend!  However, no matter how much I plan out our days and weeks, things WILL be doomed if I'm not adhering to God's plan.  After all, that's the plan that will be carried out and I can argue my plans against his all day long.

This is where I seem to struggle.  After things flow smoothly and go my way for a little bit, I seem to think I can do it all by myself and I don't need to know God's plan, because I've already done the blueprints for my own master plan.  This is a recipe for disaster!  God will ALWAYS put me on his path again and take me down the road HE planned.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope"  Jeremiah 29:11

What happens when you don't know which direction to go?  What do you do when not even I, the master planner has any idea of which move is next?  PRAY.  PRAY HARD.  PRAY OFTEN.  That's great, but where do you go in the meantime? How do you know you're doing the right thing?  I'm not sure you do know the right thing, but I do know you MUST KEEP MOVING FORWARD.  Some of my favorite song lyrics read "It's time to move on.  Time to get going.  What lies ahead I have no way of knowing.  But under my feet, baby grass is growing.  Yeah, it's time to move on. Time to get going."

Sometimes, it can take us longer than other times to understand God's plan for us and which direction he wants us to go.  There is a difference in being stuck and digging ruts in the path you're on, while waiting on God's plan to be revealed and just pressing on while waiting for his guidance and moving forward.  We all know the difference between right and wrong & progress is essential to success and a key part in moving forward.  If we don't, we will find ourselves "stuck" exactly where we started and after awhile, we will begin to dig a huge rut and get "stuck" even deeper right smack dab in that same old place we stopped to wait. 

Some days, I feel I'm on top of my game and even ahead of pace.  Other days, I have off days and just flat out don't want to do lots of things.  It is CRUCIAL that we do the things that have to be done, dress up, show up, and keep moving forward! 

I know all too well that loss, grief, hardships, sadness, and hurt come into our lives and can make us feel like giving up.  It isn't an option to lay down and die or to quit.  God created you and I to be examples and to help others who are going through what you've been through.  Therefore, if we quit or stopped moving forward we wouldn't be able to share our hopeful experiences with those who are hurting and have lost all hope.

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus"  Philippians 31: 12-14

Smile at a stranger today.  Pay for someone's lunch.  Let the person behind you in the grocery line check out first. It may seem as though you are taking three steps forward and ten steps backward, but don't give up and press on, dear friends!  Do whatever it takes and always, always, keep moving forward!