Waiting on You...

"but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles they will run and not grow weary they will walk and not be faint."

Isaiah 40:31

Today I want to write about waiting, as my title says. How many of us aren't just tired of waiting on God and his plan to finally be fulfilled. Sometimes we grow so tired of waiting that we start thinking 'maybe this isn't his plan at all...' I know sometimes I think that, so today I want to share a bit of my testimony. 

God has taught me patience in his way of teaching us patience, by putting you in a situation that will test you. In my case it was with school. Since I was little I've always wanted to become a lawyer and study law in the Netherlands. My ideas for a career changed during high school but the idea of coming to the Netherlands always stayed strong within me. When it was time to start looking for university my aim was the Netherlands, but in the end I started my bachelors in Curacao. Why? Because God told me: NOT YET. Emphasize on the "yet". 

God knows exactly when the perfect time for his plan to be fulfilled is. Maybe we think that he's taking too long, or maybe so long that he forgot so we should take matters into our own hands. 

School wasn't the only time God told me to wait. When I had my first boyfriend, I was crazy about him, but he wasn't a Christian so I had to make a choice, again it wasn't yet time to be with someone, I had to mature more and change. I wasn't ready yet. 

"He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority."

Acts 1:7

I have a friend. She has been single for a very long time and she has given up. Or that's what she told me a few days ago. She has started thinking that maybe having a husband isn't what God has in mind for her. I don't agree. But the thing is, sometimes we put the plans God has for us before God. They become our new 'god', and there's where it goes wrong. 

God doesn't want us to specifically trust the plan, but he wants us to trust the planmaker. If I had gone crazy and decided to disobey when God told me to wait, maybe now I would be studying law still but maybe in other terms. I am in the Netherlands studying and I LOVE IT! I can see God's hand in everything. I live in a big city, and there I found a room near my school and near the centre. My room is great, my classmates are awesome and all because God had every little detail planned and all I had to do was wait on his terms and his timing. 

What do I tell my friend who has given up? I told my friend to stop focussing on the plan, and to start focussing on the planmaker. God makes the plan and he makes the way, all he asks for us is to obey him and look at him for each step we take. Fix your eyes on Him. 

If you are like my friend ready to give up, because you think that maybe you understood the plan wrong, that maybe it's just your own heart deceiving you, don't loose heart. Look up to the one that is making the plans and making the path. Maybe you think his not yet was a not anymore, and that isn't the case. When God is planning he also plans the time it will take to fulfill it because he knows us and he wants us to be ready for the plan, so he makes the way to prepare us. 

Even the plan for Jesus took its time. He started when he was 30. His people walked the desert for 40 years! So STOP worrying so much and start trusting more.  I always say trust his plan, but that changes today into trust Him who makes the plans. 

I want to encourage you today to trust in the Lord, not his plan but just Him. You will see that everything he has been putting you through is to teach you, to prepare you for the great plans he has for you. 

God bless you and keep being a blessing to those around you. 

PS: These days I've been listening to the songs Fix my eyes and To the dreamers by For King and Country. These are great songs to encourage you to trust Him. And I personally love these songs too. =)

Meet Me at Sinai

Today I would like to write about something I have learned in the last few months. I have been very busy with graduating for my bachelor's degree in Law  and moving to a new country to continue studying, but I am back with more faith and more strength to get to where God is leading me.

19 On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. ² After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.

Exodus 19:1-2

After three months of walking the people of Isreal reached Mount Sinai. When looking at the map we can see that mount Sinai is the furthest point that God has taken his people from the promised land. If I would be going to my promised land I would take the shortest way there. But God did something different. He took them the other way, the longest way.

Comparing this to our spiritual walk with God, what can we learn from this? Recently something happened to a person I know. She was very confident in her walk with God, very sure that she will not fail him ever again. But she did. She failed him in a way that hurt her a lot. So God took her to the furthest point from the Promised land, he took her to Mount Sinai.

Why does God take us there?

³ Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, ⁶ you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

Exodus 19:3-6

What is the purpose of taking us so far? Why doesn't God take the fastest road to the Promised land? Why? Well in this passage he explains it: "you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."

God wants to set us apart. He wants to make us a holy nation, a kingdom of priests. In a time where everybody is following trends, God wants us to be different. But why mount Sinai? What happens there? 

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

Exodus 19:9

At mount Sinai, you will have a true encounter with God. He has his own way of doing things, and in this passage we can see that in its full glory. God takes us down to mount Sinai to have an encounter with his people.

 

Sometimes we are so full of ourselves and our spirituality, but when we are put to the test and we fail, we tend to fall forgetting that these tests are meant to make us stronger each day. To go from one level to the other, but also to keep us humble. To keep us grounded, to not let our pride come in the way of the blessings God has for us, and mainly to keep us living in the presence of God. The people of Israel had been walking in the desert for three months already, with God guiding them, but before you enter the promised land, before you can reach to where God wants to take you, you must be completely immersed in his presence. And this happened in Mount Sinai. Here God spoke not just through Moses to his people. He spoke directly at them.

Today I want to encourage you, that even though you are walking in the desert and you don't see the promised land yet, ask God if maybe he wants you to camp at Mount Sinai. Maybe God is reaching out to you to take you to a deeper level with him, but first he must take you there to have an encounter with Him.

It isn't easy going there, being there, but I trust him, and I want him completely. I want to be completely immersed in his presence. Take a leap into the river of his blessings. Let him fill you completely. Get the strength you need to finish the walk in the desert, and get to your promised land, ready to take it!

God has a great plan for his people, and you are part of his amazing plans. Trust him completely and listen to his voice telling you to camp.

Meet me at Mount Sinai and lets feel his full presence and continue this walk until we reach his promises.

God bless you and continue being a blessing for those around you.

You created me...

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb."

Psalm 139:13

Since this is the first post for this year... Happy New Year!! Happy and prosperous 2015!
This month has been a month filled with ups and downs. Its been the rollercoaster month. And in this month I've discovered a lot about me and about my faith and I would like to share this with you.

I felt the pain of loving someone that is far and also the pain of hurting someone you love that is near. They both suck equally as much. I've realized that I am a bit more selfish than I care to admit and also that I have more insecurities than I care to show. I guess its part of the process of growing up, becoming independent, seeing your dreams come true and also realizing when some might not come true.

Psalm 139 came to my mind this morning after not having the best day of my life yesterday. Maybe I got a wake up call from God telling me no matter what you do, your mistakes are no surprise to me, its part of me making you what I want you to become. Just follow through with this, learn, change, grow and become what I have planned for you.

Some of us wonder why certain things happen to us. Like why would someone become a killer, or why would someone abuse of someone else, why are children starving in Africa. And well I don't know. It might be because humans are greedy, maybe God wants us to be the good in this world of bad things. He wants us to be the light yes. But in this Psalm there is a hope for us, in these dark places.

'If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.'

Psalm 139:11-12

 It doesn't matter where we are, what we are going through or went through, even in the darkest places his light shines. This Psalm shows me that the love God has for me was the reason he created me. He knew it all before that, he knew my mistakes, he knew I was gonna fail him, and yet he made me anyway.

A lot of times I hear people say that God punishes them for the mistakes they made, it isn't so much a punishment but the consequences of our actions. God was ready to punish his people many times, but he warned them before, even after they failed God gave them a chance to repent. He always sent his prophet to tell his people: ' Look guys, you made a mistake, there is still time to fix things, just say you're sorry and stop messing up. You got a chance here, if not well you guys will be punished.'
And most of the time when they repented God forgave them. Gave them another chance. Today we have Jesus. He gave us the ultimate chance, the ultimate forgiveness. He took a stand for us and said I take over your sins, past and future, just repent in time.

And I'm not saying this is like a free pass to sin, but once you understand the magnitude of this sacrifice it will make a change in you. It is making a change in me.

Today my eyes opened to a whole new me. I realized that I messed up and God is giving me that pull telling me 'hey look I'm giving you a chance here, take it.' And God is probably telling you something like that also.

He created you with a purpose. Everything that has happened to you in the past, your mistakes, everything has led up to you being who you are today. Good things and bad things have made you who you are today. Are you happy with that? And if the answer is no, have you ever thought why you aren't happy with it?  Of course I don't know, I've had my share of a difficult emotional life, but God has blessed me enough to help me go through it all, and it wasn't bad compared to certain cases I've studied in books. But when I think about it, I guess I try to be positive, but the fact that you went through something bad in your past, it gives you a huge survival testimony. And if you're in the way of God, if you believe that Jesus gave his life for you on that Cross, if you stop and think for a moment that you were worth it, everything that you have been through is part of God's plan for your life. This might sound cliche, but he does give his toughest battles to his toughest soldiers, and once you are here you aren't even a soldier anymore, you're his General, you're his Captain.

Today I want to encourage you, that if you are going through some tough times do like David did, he didn't see the Giant in front of him, he counted the blessings and situations his God had gotten him through to prepare him for that exact moment. It was all training for the fulfillment of the ultimate goal. Right now you are in training camp. He is preparing you to become a General, a Captain, to be his heir. And if you had a difficult past, remember God has a plan for you. He made you, he knitted you in your mother's womb. He knew what he was going to do with you before he created you. He created you exactly for that purpose. Never forget that he has a plan and he will use what you have learned from all of it for his purpose. You are his living testimony. You not only survived but you came, you saw and you conquered.

He will soon show you what the purpose is, just keep looking at him and he will build the road on which you have to walk towards Him.

God bless you and be a blessing to those around you!