Growing Up

I love Joel Osteen's Daily Scriptures I get in my email.  They are short, too the point, and always encouraging. He has a way of giving you a brighter outlook in any situation.  You should check out his website and sign up for his daily emails! 

http://www.joelosteen.com/HopeForToday/TodaysWord/Pages/TodaysWord.aspx

This one below was from a few days ago and I thought it was a great reminder on how to respond when things don't go our way. Especially when the dreams and plans we want for our lives don't come to fruition right away. 

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect”
(Matthew 5:48, AMP)

 
TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

One thing I’ve learned is that just because God puts a dream in our hearts doesn’t mean it’s going to come to pass without any opposition. See, God is going to grow us up. He’s going to mature us. He’s going to prepare us to handle the promotion He has in store.

I think about Joseph in the Bible. Starting out, he didn’t have a whole lot of wisdom. He was young and immature, and God had to do a work in his life. Joseph probably shouldn’t have told his brothers about his dream that they would one day serve him! As you can imagine, his brothers were not nearly as excited about that as he was. Long story short, Joseph had to go through some things to grow up and be ready for the promotion God had in store.

Friend, it’s the same way with us today. You may have a dream in your heart that seems a million miles away, but just like Joseph, God can take you from the prison to the palace in one step. During the growing process, keep yourself focused on Him and allow Him to do His work in your life. Keep a humble attitude of faith before Him, and He will lead you and guide you into the destiny He has prepared for you!

I look back at the past few years and think, "Wow, I've really grown up  A LOT, in many different areas of life."  Looking back and thinking particularly about expanding our family-- if we would have gotten pregnant 2 or 3 years ago things probably would have been very different.  We are at a place in our lives now where we are content, we're financially stable, we're more trusting and work together better in our marriage, we're involved in our church, our work, and we've got some amazing friends and family will and have supported us through this whole process.  You can't always see why God allows opposition to your plans and dreams right away~ but we must trust in His process. And in this case, we DID have some growing up to do.

Now that we're getting closer to taking another step and starting the whole TTC process again, I feel more confident and at peace. We have never wavered from knowing God is in control, and we have definitely been humbled.  I pray that He will lead and guide us to the destiny He has prepared for us and pray that we have the courage and endurance to stay the course He's chosen... and I pray that for all of you too!