Welcome back! If you are just joining us, we are using the YouVersion Bible App to follow a devotional together. Read THIS POST to get all the information you need to join in and then you can read THIS MORNING’S POST to see the promises we are focusing on this week.

Did you get a chance to spend some time with this week’s promises? I read them over and over and had such a hard time deciding! There are some excellent verses this week and many that I love to recite on my own. Ultimately the verse I chose to focus on this week is…

You can KNOW I’m in charge of your life. Proverbs 16:9

Can you think back to a time in your life before you knew Christ? A time when you made plans and knew how things were going to turn out or how you were going to accomplish those plans all on your own because, after all, it’s your life?

Free will is a funny thing and I won’t pretend to comprehend it. I know that I have the choice of following God or turning my back on Him. I know I can attempt to achieve my dreams and try to make life happen without him. But I’ve tried that and felt how hard and empty it is. There are blessings and provisions that come with knowing God is guiding me on this journey. There is a sense of peace that no matter what struggles, victories, valleys, or peaks I come to that he is there with me.

Long ago I was going to be a teacher. From at least third grade on I was determined to be a teacher. I set up all the neighborhood kids in our garage during the summer to put them through more school. I went to educational supply stores and bought workbooks, stickers, and awards to hand out. I took every opportunity the schools I went to offered for learning about teaching and working with kids. I chose my college because of the reviews on their teacher education program. There was no way I was NOT going to be a teacher.

But a funny thing happened after I came to know Jesus. I started wavering in my desire to become a teacher. It didn’t seem like the perfect fit as it had before. I still enjoyed working with the kids (my favorite age is junior high, I know, I’m nuts) but it didn’t seem like the path for me anymore.

There was a different path set before me and it’s the one I’m traveling on now. It’s the path of encouraging and loving on people, specifically women, to really embrace and love the life they have and be thankful for the blessings around them. I get to write about it here and I get to put it into action in my MOPS (Mothers of PreSchoolers) group. I can come along side amazing women, that God created, who are feeling lost, happy, lonely, frustrated, excited, or burnt out and listen to their stories. I get to share my stories. We can work together to find out what God says about who we are and that we don’t need to feel at the end of our ropes every day.

If I had decided to continue on my own way and made my own plans I could have spent years feeling frustrated and out of place doing something I thought I was supposed to love. Maybe in the future I’ll end up in a classroom again. Right now my place is home with my babies and meeting with people who need encouragement, ideas, and a friend. God has determined my steps despite the plans I made. And I’m so incredibly thankful he has.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, that you alone determine our steps. That you are in control without being controlling! Thank you that you offer us wisdom and guidance to stay on track with your plans. I pray, Lord, that each person reading this would feel your presence in their lives today and know where to go next. I ask that you would fill us with the knowledge we need to make the decisions we are facing in our lives. Give us a sense of peace over the choices that lead us down your path. In your son’s name, Amen.