Devotionals for the Heart: God's Plan

Trust God’s Timing And Plans
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“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 a hope and a future.” –Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

God has a plan for your life and He has a plan for mine. Sometimes He reveals His plans many years in advance. Other times, we do not even realize that we have glimpsed the plan for our future.

Let me share with you the plan that God showed me though I did not realize it at the time and I was too young to even know about God. My twin brothers are three years younger than me. This event happened before they were born. I do not know how old I was.

I remember my Mom dressing me in an all-in-one winter suit and my parents popping me in the car. We drove somewhere. We got out of our car and walked. I remember seeing a bridge across a river with rows of houses either side. I felt drawn to that place.

Bewdley in England (Photo Credit: Julia Wilson)

The longing for that place with the river, the bridge and the houses never left me. As I grew up I would constantly question my parents, asking, “Where did we go?” The answer never changed: They had no idea where it was nor did they know what I was talking about.

I got married, had a family and we lived in four different houses in three different towns. The sense that I desired to go back to that place never left me. I walked my children to school every day. It was about a mile and a quarter up to school and back. I did it twice a day.

One day as I was walking to collect my children, I rounded Beales Corner (as I always did). Suddenly, it was as if the scales fell from my eyes as I looked ahead.

There was the river with the bridge and the houses either side! The place I had been longing for all my life was the place I now lived, and had lived in for several years. Wow! I had done that walk so many times yet never seen it like I saw it that day. Years and years of yearning to return … and yet, I was already home.

Bewdley in England (Photo Credit: Julia Wilson)

I do not know why God put that desire on my heart as a very small child. I do not know why I did not recognize the place of longing the first time I walked to school. But what I do know is God was with me, even when I was too young to know Him. He planned my life out. He put a desire in my heart. And He fulfilled that yearning all in His timing.

I never need to worry about my life because God holds me in His hands. God holds us all in His hands and in His heart. Even when we do not know God, God knows us. He loves us and He cares for us.

If you do not know my caring and loving God, you can know Him today. You can trust His timing and you can trust His heart.

May I lead you in a prayer to help you get to know God?

Let’s Pray: Dear Jesus Christ, I know I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust You and follow You as my Lord and Saviour all the days of my life. In Jesus’s Name I pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic. 

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.