I know it's been months since I last wrote. Truth is life just gets busy sometimes, and it's been a very busy summer. It isn't that I haven't thought about writing...I have probably started at least 20 blogs, in my head, I just haven't actually sat down to write them. This time however, I need to write. I need to write about one of my all-time favorite scriptures, Jeremiah 29:11. "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and hope."
Yes, it has been a very crazy and very busy summer. Let me give you just a glimpse of my summer. We have had plans to remodel the bathrooms at our church, a much needed job, for sometime now. Well there we were in the middle of our summer vacation and boom...the phone rang at 9:30. We were in the hotel room trying to get our daughter asleep because she had her big dance competition the next morning and I was going to have to wake her up at 4:30 AM just to get her ready and at the venue by 6:30 AM. So the phone rang and it was one of our deacons letting us know that a water valve had busted in the ladies bathroom and our foyer that had just been renovated two years before was underwater. In fact the bathrooms were flooded along with the nursery, the hallway, the church office and most of the sanctuary! We were 6 hours away in Florida....with commitments. We couldn't just drop everything and take off, so we told our deacon to call in the reserves and do the best he could. We finished our vacation and came home to a mess! (The good news is by the time we are done remodeling...well it's gonna be a whole brand new church just about! Guess we are remodeling those bathrooms a little earlier than planned!) And it hasn't stopped yet! Honestly it's getting to be something new going wrong almost every day, we are kind of laughing about it now.
My husband and I could be stressing about it...we could be worrying...we could be living in the day by day drama of it, but we aren't why? Because we both remember Jeremiah 29:11...we've lived it before. We've had our "dreams" shattered, our hopes crushed...only to see that we serve an amazing GOD, a GOD who sees beyond the shattered dreams...the crushed hope and says, "Oh what a beautiful thing I can do with this!" (Kind of like those ladies we all admire..you know the ones I am talking about? The ones who go to a yard sale...sees someone else's castaways and takes it home because she sees potential! And oh what she does with it!!!!!) That's what God can and does do with your shattered dream!
I'm talking about shattered dreams all because of Ryan. Ryan is the youngest son of my best friend Michelle. He's "my redheaded son"! Well that's what I call him. After the death of my first husband and my move back to Florida, Michelle and her family sort of adopted me. Most evenings I would be at their house having dinner so she could help me pass my college algebra class. We went shopping a lot too! I can still remember one shopping trip to the mall with her two sons, Jared and Ryan. Jared looks exactly like Michelle, Ryan has red hair, did I mention that I am a red head too? Well Ryan was being a bit....ummm active that day and the sales lady just had to make some comment about "redheaded children", I almost started a fight right there in the JC Penney kids department! (Then she really would have found out what they say about redheads!) Most of the time everyone thought Ryan was mine, and that was fine with me. (He really has red hair from his dad!)
Well back to Ryan and shattered dreams. Ryan became a very focused young man. He went to high school and joined the ROTC and decided that the military was what God had planned for him. He was full of dreams, plans and thoughts of graduating from Paris Island and wearing the USMC uniform. (I was so excited..my first husband was a Marine and I couldn't wait to go see him graduate!) I was able to be at his going away party in Jacksonville, Florida only a few weeks ago, and it was a great party for a great kid! Three days later Ryan got on a bus and was taken to Paris Island. Just a few days into that first week of basic training and Ryan was in a hospital room because he was experiencing tremors in his hands. Later tests would reveal some abnormalities that make it impossible for him to pursue his dreams of being a Marine.
His mother posted the news the other night on Facebook and in her message she said this, "Ryan received the news that they are going to disqualify him and are sending him home. He sounds good. He knows God has a plan and He will lead him." It just struck me...as a matter of fact, our whole Sunday morning service yesterday became just about that, God has a plan and HE will lead. So many people are running around with shattered dreams. A job is gone. A husband has left. A diagnosis has come in and it's bad. Your dreams and your plans seem to be taking a turn you can't understand. The church is flooded after you've been having an increase in attendance and giving and now people aren't coming back...ooops did I say that? Anyways what faith Ryan has! That he can say at 18 years of age, "I know God has a plan and He will lead me!"
We all need to remember that! Maybe the way life is heading is not the way you thought it would go, BUT GOD knew! He saw! And HE is the one who will LEAD...if you will listen to his voice! I know after Rob died that I had no clue what I was going to do. So many things to consider, and there I was only 31 wanting to be a wife, not a widow; wanting to be a mother, not childless. It took me a few weeks to just get rested up after the turmoil. Then it took me a few more months just to wrap my head around the "new" life I had to think about. When God finally told me to leave my family in Maine and move back to Florida where I just had a few friends and a great church my first thought was, "Are you sure God?". (Okay maybe it was "Hey God can you be the one to tell this to my mother because she really isn't going to like it!") But I knew that He was telling me to pack and head out. Now I can look back and say I am glad I did.
My husband Randy said something yesterday....oops the day before, it's after midnight, a new day now! During the altar call that became our service..."Nothing has God wringing his hands in desperation. Nothing takes him by surprise." He knew about Ryan's problem before Ryan went to Paris Island. He knew the water valve was going to bust this summer. God isn't up there saying, "Oh no what am I going to do with Ryan now? What are Randy and Gina going to do about the church now?" He's got a plan...and HE will lead.
Maybe this is just for me to write about here in the wee hours of the morning. Maybe I am just encouraging myself....but hey even us Pastor's Wives need to remember sometimes...Jeremiah 29:11-I have a plan Gina, says the Lord! I have a PLAN...and I will LEAD!
All I can say is Thank You Lord...I promise to follow! I can't wait to see what you have in store for my "redheaded son"!
