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“I know the plans I have
for you….
You will seek me and find me
when
you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29: 11,13 (NIV)
I
believe God had plans for me even before I was a twinkle in my Dad’s eyes.
Somehow, growing up in a happy but not particularly religious family, I always
believed in God.
My
earliest recollection of God being talked about occurred when I was a skinny
six or seven-year-old changing out of my wet swimming suit in an old wooden
bathhouse, as my aunt, a Christian Scientist visiting from far off California,
taught me the Lord’s
Prayer!
Learning
about the Pilgrims was all I remember from the eighth grade confirmation classes
in the Congregational Church.
After I
married Phil, a cradle Episcopalian, I slept in while he went off to church.
Fast
Forward. Three children later, all baptized and in church with us every Sunday,
I began to deal with Jesus. Who was He, anyway? I looked for Him first in the
public library. (I didn’t find him.) Our priest gave me a little better
direction, and eventually I accepted Jesus as Lord. I was confirmed in the
Episcopal Church and God became my part-time consultant.
Fast
Forward. A new couple at the coffee hour talked about Jesus as though they
really knew Him! Strange! Not long after several other strange “God
incidences.” I found myself with Phil, on my knees on someone’s living room
floor. A truly born-again moment. God became my full-time boss. A few years
later, Cursillo in the mountains of New Mexico. A heavenly spiritual high!
Fast
Forward. St. John’s Naples.
Children all leaving the nest. A witnessing community reaching out to me. A twenty year journey of regular church involvement
and attendance. But there were many weeks when I never thought about God from
Sunday to Sunday. God had again become my part-time consultant.
Unhappy
with my faith journey, I asked a good friend, Joan Warren, what I might do. Joan
organized a handful of women who committed with us to a weekly morning meeting
with the goal of growing spiritually. At first there was no difference in my
life except I had to admit to the group that God had again been pretty much
forgotten. But then it changed.
One of
the women in the group said that she would get up every morning at 6:00 a.m.
for the coming week to pray for me if I would get up at 6:00 a.m. to spend some
quiet time with God. It was one of the most touching gifts I’ve ever received,
and it changed my life.
Quiet
time with God is now a daily part of my life, and “Grouping,” as we call it,
has made the biggest difference in my spiritual journey. Support, prayer,
encouragement, and love for one another—all these in abundance. But most
importantly, my needing to be honest with the group has kept me honest with
myself.
Recently,
God has been speaking to me powerfully through his Word. The words “I have
plans for you” keep going through my mind (Jeremiah 29:11). Until now, however,
I never saw Jeremiah 29:13, just two lines later, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” And that has become my
verse.
The more
time I spend seeking Him, the more I realize what an awesome God He is and how
unbelievably great is His love for me, for us. God has been filling me with
incredible joy and gratitude. What I seek is more of God because I know He has
plans for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me. And whatever His Plans
are for me, He will be with me every step of the way. Bonnie
Schlichting
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