Devotionals for the Heart: God's Plans

The Wonder of God’s Plans
A devotional by Karen Marstaller

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”—Isaiah 57:15 (ESV)

With my miniscule brain, it’s hard to wrap my mind around the vastness and immensity of the Lord God, the Creator of innumerable galaxies, and the Ruler of Heaven and Earth. I stand in awe at His work. I shake my head in wonder at His miracles. I can’t grasp the complexity and symmetry of the rotations of the sun, moon, stars, and planets, or of the beautiful progression of the seasons of winter, spring, summer, and fall.

Ever since the time God created our world, He continues to orchestrate it with a complete and perfect plan for every atom, every speck of dust, and every molecule of water and air. Each one provides balance and nurtures life on this earth. And even though we live here, we understand very little of all that we take for granted.

In Genesis, chapter one, the Lord explains the process of creation for us. God spoke, and light began to shine. At His word, water separated from the face of the formless void. His voice set the celestial worlds in orbit, and His authority created everything we see. In the next chapter of Genesis (chapter two), the creation of the first human is described. The Lord Most High bent down to scoop some clay He had made, and with it, He shaped a man in God’s own image—Adam.

From the immense nothingness around Him, God designed a perfect world and set it into motion. Then He took a humble clod of dirt to fashion the man who would bear the image of God for all the rest of us. Next, He breathed His own breath into Adam—the breath of life. To this day, we all continue to breathe God’s life into our own lungs. And even as misshapen and marred by sin as we are, we still carry the very imprint of God in our bodies.

And yet God had more plans. Even in the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God provided a way to bring His sin-sick, desolate children back to Himself. Just as Adam and his wife (Eve) tried to hide their sin from their Maker in Genesis, chapter three, so do we. We’ve mostly graduated from using fig leaves to much more elaborate disguises, but it’s still our sin that separates us from our holy Lord, and we’ll do anything to hide it.

Sounds hopeless, doesn’t it? Yet all through the Bible, God points us toward a relationship with Him. In Isaiah 57:15, He again reminds us that He doesn’t just dwell in loftiest heaven, He also dwells with us—the lowly in spirit and the contrite in heart! Because of Him we have hope!

So, don’t waste any more time, dear one! Whisper to our gracious Father in Heaven. He hears every word of your heart. Tell Him all about your troubles and let Him dwell with you while you cry. He promises He will stay with us (Matthew 28:20) and He will wipe away every tear (Revelation 21:4). His forgiveness delivers us from the agony of our sin (Colossians 1:13-14) and He rejoices over us in love and gladness as we turn back to Him (Zephaniah 3:17).

What peace and comfort are ours when we come humbly to Him—the Lord of Heaven and Earth!

Let’s Pray: Dear God, we praise Your Holy Name! You are amazing! Thank You for loving us, for comforting us, and for renewing us as we run to You for forgiveness. Please teach us how to rest in You, and how to trust You every moment of every day. Thank You, Lord! In the Name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “The Maker” by Chris August. Listen to it here.

~*~
Author Bio:

Karen Marstaller is a retired high school teacher who spent most of her career challenging creative students to write. Her heart is for her readers. 

She writes to encourage them, to make them laugh, to show them that life is a beautiful journey, and regardless of their past, to show them that there is joy ahead if they will just keep looking.

Karen and her husband live in central Texas in a sweet little home that they completely remodeled. They enjoy spending time with their family, which includes seven precious grandchildren.

Most of all, Karen writes in obedience to the command to love your neighbor, to offer a cup of water to those who are dying of thirst, and to comfort others with the comfort she has received.

You can reach Karen by emailing her at this address: klmarstaller@gmail.com

Devotionals for the Heart: Our Plans

Releasing our plans to God
A devotional by Heidy De La Cruz

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” 

– Proverbs 16:3 (NIV)

We all have plans, goals, and desires for our lives. We all want to succeed, and we have a vision of how our life will go. But life doesn't always go as planned. As a matter of fact, can you think of a time when things went right according to your plans?

Prior to getting engaged, I had not thought much about my wedding. I know some females dream of their wedding since they were little girls, but that wasn't me. I had been to plenty of beautiful weddings, but it wasn't until I got engaged that I really started to think about mine.

I'm not much of a party planner; it causes me too much anxiety. So I never gave it much thought about planning a wedding. I did know that there's a ton of small details that goes into planning a wedding, and it all seemed overwhelming to me. Then there is the money part; weddings are expensive! But before my husband, then fiancé, started planning our wedding, we prayed.

We would pray every day for our wedding, for the planning aspect, for the financial aspect, and we would pray that everything will turn out according to God's will for our life. It seemed like everything was working smoothly from day one, considering that we were planning this wedding in five months because I wanted to get married on my birthday, which is in February, and we got engaged in September.

As the days went by, we continued to pray and continued to plan – everything was working out according to plan. God provided the financial aspects, which was only His doing because I wanted to use credit cards right away, but my husband stopped me. There were a few things I started to worry about as the day approached. Like the wedding was on a Thursday, we had family flying in from out of town, the DJ was also part of the wedding party, my siblings went to school in the morning, the caterer was also a wedding guest … but at the end of the night, everything, absolutely everything turned out perfect!

People would ask me how the wedding planning was going if I was stressed out or worried, but because I prayed and left everything in God's hands, He worked everything out and we had minimal bumps along the way.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 16:3 (NIV), “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans” and that is my testimony in regards to my wedding. From the very beginning, I prayed to God and released everything to Him, and He worked things out to His will. At the end of the night, it was the dream wedding I never knew I wanted.

Let’s Pray: Heavenly Father, I know we have plans for our lives, but Your plans are far more significant than what we can ever imagine. Help me Lord, to always commit to You my plans first, and let you guide my steps. You work things out for my good. Remind me that You will make things happen in your time according to your plan for my life. In your name, I pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

Hello, my name is Heidy (Reynoso) De La Cruz. 

I am Dominican-American and I’m passionate about writing! I write poetry, encouraging blog posts about personal experiences and any message that God has stored in my heart. I am working on publishing my first poetry book.

First and foremost, I am a daughter of Jesus Christ. I am also a wife and a mother. I have my master’s degree in Healthcare Administration through Belhaven University’s online course. I have my bachelor’s degree in Science with the concentration of Psychology and Healthcare Administration.

I currently work in the medical field as a Medical Billing and Coding Specialist, and I’ve been in the medical field for the last six years. I love my career!

My hobbies include writing, reading, watching documentaries, listening to podcasts, traveling, and spending time with my family.

~*~
Connect with Heidy:
Blog: https://heidyreynoso.wordpress.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heidy.delacruz13/
Read my poetry on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heidyspoems/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/heidyreynoso13
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heidyreynoso13