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Trust in God Equals a Timeless Perspective
By Mindy Lee Hopman
Thursday, September 15, 2016
For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah29:11NASB
He drove a maroon F150. I can clearly remember the evening he asked me to go for a ride. He invited me to go with him to get gas, but that night my little girl world fell apart when my daddy told me he was leaving our family.
He left my mom with three children to raise. My young mom did the best she could on her own. I was raised in a Jewish, single-parent home. Fitting in never seemed as though it was a part of my story.
You cannot choose where you are born, but you can choose whom you want to follow.
Some of us enter the School of Hard Knocks by our own choices, such as dating someone we know is not good for us, substance abuse, or it could even be as simple as using a poor choice of words at the wrong time.
Others of us enter the school as a result of the circumstances that we arrive in, such as a medical diagnosis, a car accident, situations in the home, or a parent’s choice that affects his or her children.
Unfortunately, I have attended the School of Hard Knocks from both entrances!
Gratefully, my husband and I found Christ at the beginning of our marriage. All of a sudden the Old Testament stories I had learned as a child came alive!
Just as God knew what he was doing when he planted Esther in the King’s palace, or Ruth within a Hebrew family, God had a plan for me, too.
Both Esther and Ruth traveled through the School of Hard Knocks, as well.
Esther, a young Hebrew girl raised by her uncle, was strategically placed by God and used to preserve the nation of Israel.
Ruth, a Moabite woman, married into a Hebrew family. When her husband passed away, she chose to cling to the God of her mother-in-law, and her obedience led her straight to a kinsman redeemer, which led her into the lineage of Jesus Christ.
You cannot choose where you are born, but you can choose whom you want to follow.
When we place our trust in God, our perspective shifts from self to Savior. Then we realize that we fit right into His perfect plan, because He made the plans a long time ago and the story actually belongs to Him.
God asks us to see beyond our situations and place our eyes on the Savior. While our eyes can only adjust to the light of today, His perspective includes the future. Today He is preparing you for where He wants you to be tomorrow, even if you are sitting in the back-row of the School of Hard Knocks right now.
God’s plan for your life includes bringing you through to the other side. He is writing your story, and by the way of the cross, your redemption story is beautiful and eternal.
Are you sitting in the School of Hard Knocks today? If so, will you trust God to bring you through? Can you see beyond where you are sitting and how you fit into His plan and His story?
Heavenly Father, I praise you for who You are. I am grateful You are the Author of each one of our stories, which fit perfectly into Your story. May we shift our focus from self to Savior and may You open the eyes of hearts to understand the lessons You teach us in the School of Hard Knocks. May we trust You to see beyond the situations to the hope we have in You. May we choose to follow You and when You bring us through, may we bring You glory.
In the Precious Name of Jesus I pray, Amen.
To read more about how our Christian roots connect to our Hebrew roots in God’s story, Mindy has written a book titled Beautiful Legacy: Our Roots Run Deep. It will be available for purchase in September!
© 2016 by Mindy Lee Hopman. All rights reserved.
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