Hey y'all! I hope you are having an amazing day so far. I just want to say thank you for sticking with me through all of my blogs. I know sometimes y'all probably get tired of reading them or getting the email in your inbox, but I really appreciate y'all taking the time to read them. I also thank y'all for sending me your encouraging words, critiques, dos/don'ts, prayers. etc. that I get on a daily basis. It really does help me in my daily walk and weekly writing. I just hope y'all will continue to read and be encouraged. I know my words and writing may be scattered and hard to understand at times, so I really and truly appreciate it.
Lately, I have found myself getting into, not actual trouble, but messy situations. I often times tell myself that I've gotten into this mess, so I need to get out of it. More times than I probably should, I try to figure it out all by myself. Now, I do believe in God's grace and His helping hand, but as the human I am, I often think as if His help is ONLY available when I "deserve" it. The first encounter between God and Jacob is a GREAT illustration of just how untrue that thought is.
Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebekah, had spent a lifetime trying to alter his own destiny. You see, Jacob was born at a time where the father's blessing - believed to guarantee future prosperity - was given to firstborn sons, not second. So, Jacob did what a lot of us might would have done at the time. He decided that he would do WHATEVER it would take to get his father's blessing. He succeeded, through deceit, at getting the blessing that was intended for his brother, Esau.
Jacob did pay a price, however, through his divided family. Jacob fled from a furious Esau, and as night came about, he must have felt as if his life of blessing was as far away as it ever could be. Fortunately for Jacob, it was there, where he left behind a trail of deceptions, that he met God. God showed him that he did not need deception or these desperate schemes to be blessed… he ALREADY WAS.
His destiny, a purpose and plan far greater than any material prosperity, was held securely by the One who would never even THINK about leaving him. It was a lesson that Jacob would end up spending his whole life learning. Just like Jacob, we too will spend our lives learning this lesson. God never gives up on His love, purposes and plans for our lives. No matter how many regrets we may carry or how far and distant God may seem, He is STILL there... gently guiding us out of our messy part and into His blessings.
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6
