If You Only Knew

It’s Christmas Eve!! It is our last article in 2018, so it’s a perfect time for us to talk about what tomorrow looks like.  What does 2019 have for all of us?  Have you ever wished that you could go through time and see all the highs and lows to come?  Maybe we wouldn’t be so uptight about where we are right now if we knew that there was something awesome coming down the pipeline. Perhaps we could avoid that friend, that guy, that girl who will betray us, lie to us or ditch us.  How about if you got to see your future spouse who was waiting for you or maybe an inheritance that would get you out of debt, or that dream job you’ve always hoped for, would you feel more content then with your current situation knowing that it will get better?

The last three weeks we have been talking about the things that we need to do in order to have a different outcome in our year.   The first week we were talking about the power of the chains of addiction, habits, and hang-ups.  Those chains are so restricting that we can’t honestly see our life the way God wants us to.  We learned that God has the key to free us, but we also discovered that it is up to us to walk out of the cell.  God may give us the key but at times walking out and staying out can be the hardest move.   The following week we talked about “The Power of Change.”  It’s a journey we must take; we talked about the things we can’t take with us on this trip.  Change is a process that must happen to become the new person God has called us to be.  If we don’t do things differently, then we are just going to make the same mistakes we’ve made before.  Lastly, we need to have towards God in order to allow him to help us be better.  If we can’t see how our old ways can sabotage the new things He is doing in us, then all we will do is continue to fall short.  In this week’s article, we are going to look at the new future we have when we finally allow Jesus to be the one in charge over our lives.  

I was reminded of a time when I went to share my testimony at a church.  I have been blessed every time I’ve shared my story, but at this church, I experienced one of my most emotional moments.  It was a warm Sunday morning in July, and I prepared to speak at The Harbor, then called “Lamb’s Chapel,” and the Senior Pastor, Michael Jankowski, didn’t want to do the service in a traditional way.  He asked me if it would be okay if he could do more of a sit-down interview with me in front of his congregation.  Though I never did anything like that before, I agreed and thought that it would be cool.  He was perfect as he expressed his emotions from reading my book and asked questions that were spot on to help those who hadn’t read it to better help them understand its contents.  I was able to get through every question he and the congregation had without any tears.

Only God Knows

Pastor Mike invited me to come not just so I could share about my life experiences, but he wanted me to take some time and encourage those in the audience who may have gone through the same or similar struggles that I did.  He proceeded to put up verses from the Bible on

Jeremiah 29:11 was the first one the brought me great emotion.

“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 hope and a future.”

The moment I saw this verse I froze as a huge lump formed in my throat.  It was so big that I was unable to speak.  Pastor Mike started reading it, and I was quickly whisked away to the time where I was about 13 or 14 years of age where I was crying in my bed because I was convinced that life wasn’t going to get any better than my abuse and my sin.  My hope was completely snuffed out.  My future was bleak and non-existent.  Then I remember the soft, warm voice of God whispering to me that he loved me and he had a plan for me.  I couldn’t imagine at that time of darkness the bright future that was in store for me.

When you look at God’s words here, how comforting is it for all of us that HE knows and has plans for us?  So many times we become angry because we think that our life is out of control and God could never do anything with our struggles but “He knows.”  Sometimes we hate the fact that only God knows what our future holds, but we have to trust in the fact that “He” has a plan.  He can use our failures, our additions, pain and hurts to give us a brighter and “new” future.

Many people have quoted this verse but only used the first part of it.  By doing so, they have allowed for widespread opportunities of misinterpretations from what God truly meant by this statement.  I’ve seen “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord” translated by many in ways to cause more confusion and fear.

“God you know what your plans are but I don’t know.  What are they God!?”

“God I’ve screwed up, so are you planning to punish me?  Are you planning to give me exactly what I deserve?”

“Is there anything to hope for? I’ve lost so much and gained so little.”

God spoke these words as a means to comfort, and many have received it as words of confusion, doubt, and fear.  I love the fact that there is a completion of the statement.  “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you,” God tells us ahead of time that he plans to prosper us.  He plans to make us flourish, thrive and to grow strong and healthy.  Yes, we deserve punishment at times, but instead of giving us judgment and vengeance he says he plans to give us, “hope and a future.”

Without God the only future we have is destruction!!  But with God, we have a NEW future.  I don’t know about you, but whenever I think of this, I can’t help but have high expectations for my tomorrow.  I don’t have to worry about the struggle in front of me as we talked about in the beginning.  Why fret about the today?  I don’t have to worry about others letting me down because my God will never let me down.  I can put my trust in him to shape my tomorrow perfectly.  It also means that when hard times come, that I didn’t cause, I can be comforted by His words due to the fact He is in control and is using every moment to build character in me.  So what happens when I deserve punishment because I didn’t listen and I am back in the prisons He delivered me from?  Well, God looks at me and gives me new mercy every single morning of my life and allows me to pick up the pieces and begin again.

Back To The Future

Pastor Mike was waiting for me to answer his question, but all I could do was cry, and even now I’m doing the same because I remembered the day when I finally believed that there was more for me.  I remember the day that I let God rebuild my future and of how, in my wildest dreams, I never thought it would look like this.  I could barely speak by the time Pastor Mike asked me to pray for the people who came up to the altar at the end of it all.  All I could do was close my eyes, bite my lip and remember when those faces were all in my dreams.  God told me there was a plan he had for me, but it never looked so perfect.  How could all my failures, doubts, and mess-ups equal this?  I looked into the face of my future and was so humbled by the outcome.

As I prayed at the altar full of people, I wept for them knowing that they were going to have to make the decisions I made to walk through the prison doors, go on the journey to change, get a new perspective of God so I can embrace all he had for me.

Psalms 5:2-4

Hear my cry for help,

my King and my God,

for to you I pray.

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before you

and wait expectantly.

For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;

with you, evil people are not welcome.

Weekly Challenge:

So 2018 is almost over.  Have you laid your requests before God?  What are you expecting your future to look like?  I want to encourage you to believe for everything that God promises.   In order to see them entirely come to life, however, you must truly love him and really surrender your will to Him.  Many forget that God is a gentleman.   They ask for His blessings and protection but yet live and behave in ways that do not honor Him.  He does not force His ways upon us, it is our choice but what He has is good, it is prosperity, it is hope.  It may not be in the ways you had hoped, but it is in a way that will guarantee success in your future with Him forever.

If you would like to see the interview at the Harbor click here on this link. Also if you would like to hear more about my testimony read my book, “The Threshing: A Weapon Forged by Fire.” Sign up here to read the first three chapters for free!  You can also buy the full book on Amazon!.  We would also love to hear from you. Lastly, we are now on Instagram @throughthewinters so start following us! Hope to see you then!

Happy New Year from all of us here at Through the Winters Ministry!

God Bless