Journey4Jesus
Praying Gods Word in all areas of life… The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Winds of Change…
Have you ever found yourself in that place of life, where the storm clouds are descending and you can just sense that you are in for a storm that is going to shake things up around you? The type that is not going to lift quickly and will keep you tossing in the wind even as the world around you appears to remain still. This is the place I was in three years ago when I wrote this journal entry in my prayer journal.
We had sold our home and any other properties and all of our business inventory, so that we could pay off any outstanding bills etc.after watching our business crumble. We were living in our camper trailer on a lovely piece of property loaned to us by people from our Church. This place was a sanctuary to us in the storm, and we praise the Lord for it.
Yet, we were utterly and desperately lost as to what we were going to do with our lives going forward. We prayed regularly together, we dug into the scriptures like never before and we surrendered our lives to Jesus on a daily basis, believing and hoping that He had a plan for us.
I remember the day so clearly that I read these verses below. I don’t ever recall reading or hearing Psalm 96 vs. 3 before; “Publish his glorious deeds among the nations”. I must have re-read that verse half a dozen times, asking myself how I’d never noticed this before. This verse totally captivated me… God were you saying something? Why was this reverberating over & over again within my mind?
I didn’t have the answers but I truly believed that if God was at work in something, He would reveal it to me in due time. About a year later, He did just that. All along my thoughts were that eventually I would write my story, and the struggles that through God I overcame, but He eventually showed me that He wanted me to share my prayer Journal. (You can listen to my video intro about this here).
At first I couldn’t understand why He would want me to share this… first of all, this was very personal to me, In it I was raw and honest and our lives were a mess. As I was processing this thought, I shared what I felt God was asking of me with a friend and she confirmed that God had been speaking to her as well and believed that this was the direction He wanted.
In spite of not seeing clearly, I was so sure of what He was asking that I chose to be obedient, and in due time, He helped me to understand that He wanted to show others that He is still faithful to His children, in both their day to day lives as well as their dreams. In this way He was choosing to use my struggles & prayer time, so that they would shine a light onto His answers and lessons that He was teaching me… Thank you Jesus for choosing to us me in this way.
If you have been led to this blog unknowingly, or it has been recommended I praise God for you. My ultimate prayer is that through my journey and my writings others would see the love of Jesus.
As I go through this writing process every week, I am reminded of Gods incredible faithfulness. I can both, recall in my minds eye exactly where we were in the time of the journalling, and I could see exactly where we are at present, living in His faithfulness and promises.
If you have been riding a storm for a while, or been sitting in the quietness of Gods waiting room feeling like He has abandoned you, I encourage you to read on and see the faithfulness of the Father.
Journal Entry:
July 2018
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Your Word, Thank you for the timeliness of each reading. As I opened Your Word today, my heart almost jumped out of my chest, when I read “publish his glorious deeds to all the nations”. Lord, from a young age,You have put a passion to write within my heart. Recently, I’ve been feeling led to begin writing my story. But which part? The whole thing or a particular aspect? This was the area I simply couldn’t seem to settle inside of me yet, so I waited trusting you to reveal to me in due time what your plan was.
Lord Jesus, I do want to tell people of ALL the amazing things you have done in my life, but ONLY if that is YOUR will and plan for me. I have spent so much of my life jumping in front of You…wanting to lead the way on MY path, rather than discerning Your will and obediently following YOUR path for me. So I pray Heavenly Father, if this is YOU speaking to me, would You confirm this to me…either by Your Spirit or through You speaking on this matter through someone else.
Thank you Jesus for Your Love and provision for us. Thank you that I am confident that You are going before us and preparing the way for our future. Open our minds and hearts to what YOU would have for us Lord.
We sense that the winds of change are blowing over us, that You have a much different future than what we would have planned, yet we are confused at what that will be and how we will discover it. So I pray for TODAY, and choose to leave tomorrow to You. Help me to hear You today…guide me today…provide for our needs today. Take me day by day along Your path I pray.
Give me wisdom Lord, to work through the financial obligations that we need to meet, help me to be honest in my dealings and to remember that ALL I have belongs to You, that I am to give to You from the provision that You have given to us… forgive me Father, that I have been less than faithful in that area. Help me, as I release my finances and my future to You.
Thank you Lord that You have us in the palm of Your hand, thank you that You have redeemed our past and You hold our future. Our number one desire Lord is to live the remainder of our days serving You, in both our work and our ministry. I firmly believe that You have placed this desire on each of our hearts, so I ask You kind Father to guide us along Your path, and do Your good works within us for Your Glory.
In Jesus name ❤️ Amen.
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement:
I can’t know exactly where you are today my friends, if you are in a place of bounty or of want… but I can hopefully encourage you with a brief glimpse into what God has been doing as we recognized those winds of change and surrendered our lives to His plan rather then the one we had for ourselves.
Three years ago, we could never imagine where we would be today. Serving the Lord, husband & wife, side by side, with a Christian NGO. We would relocate to Northern Canada (this was a complete opposite direction of where we were planning to go). As of today, we are 1 week shy of completing our one year contract.
But God wasn’t done yet, we have been asked to stay on for a minimum of two more years. I can’t even begin to explain every little detail that has been worked out over this past year and in preparation for what His plans are for us moving forward. What I can tell you, is there is such peace in surrender, in trusting that Gods plan is better than ours.
We have been blessed so much in the work that we are doing, we are the ones that are supposed to be the blessing to others, yet God has turned those blessings back onto us. The role we are fulfilling is a new role for the organization, one which we knew very little about and God has shown us how we have in fact been getting equipped for this role our whole lives.
My encouragement to you today my friends, no matter where you are, remember that God is at work in and through you. You may not be able to see how you are being equipped nor see what it may be for, but when He spoke those words through Jeremiah the profit… He knew. He knew then and He knows now, I implore you to surrender your plans to the will of God and hang on tightly because it can be a wild ride…
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
Blessings, Janet ❤️
If you enjoyed this post and would like to hear more of my story click here and go to the menu bar to navigate the site. Read previous Blog posts under Blog tab, learn why I chose to Blog this by watching my video , and please send me a comment with how the post impacted you, or let me know if you have any questions on the Contact Janet tab. I’d Love to connect and hear from you, lets Journey together…
Journey4Jesus 
Oh yes, I have been in that spot where I know God is going to do something and I should be expectant, but at the same time, it was hard to stay hopeful. It seems like God has honored your decision to keep your eyes on Him through difficult times. 🙂
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Thank you for taking the time to comment. Yes we are very thankful for Gods faithfulness to us.
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Cannot wait to read more.
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