When God Redesigns the Pattern
The first two weeks of 1996 I was traveling to and through India on a mission trip. My friend Jim and I left Atlanta sometime the first week of January where we would visit several missions in various places throughout India.
Sometime in mid-November I was asked by a company in Norcross to accept a position as the VP of Human Resources. After lots of praying about this significant shift for me from years in various nonprofit ministries, I accepted the offer to begin my new career. I had already scheduled my mission trip, so I let the company know that I couldn’t begin my new job until mid-January.
As 1996 approached, I was at peace with my new plan and excited to begin the year with my friend doing mission work for two weeks. It was a wonderful two weeks preaching and teaching in a foreign country. It was a joy to see what God was doing in India. The whole experience felt like a wonderful reset on my new life.
Toward the end of our trip we stopped at a rug factory. There we saw amazing tapestries that were hand crafted. Each design was created by a master designer. The workers would weave the design just as the master artist had planned. But we learned that these craftsmen, like all of us, sometimes made mistakes. When a mistake was made the master designer would step in and create a thing of beauty from the mistake that had occurred. The end result never looked like an accident but rather like a beautiful, planned design.
When I returned to the States to start my new job, I received a phone call with very difficult news. My job offer had been rescinded! I had a family and suddenly found myself without a job! The company that made me the offer was in the process of being acquired. Now what was I to do to provide for my family? Where was God in all of this? What happened to the perfect plan?
Within a few days I was hired on a consulting contract to help the company being acquired prepare for the transition with the hope that in the combined entity I would find a new opportunity. All this seemed very unlikely to me since I had never worked in anything other than ministry. But I stepped forward in faith that God had a plan.
It is a story for another day, but within 45 days I completed my assignment and was hired by the acquiring company to be the senior executive over Human Resources, a field I had never worked in or really knew anything about!
As the year progressed life became significantly more difficult. My learning curve was steep and there were new challenges in nearly every area of life. As I look back on my life, 1996 was one of, if not the most, difficult years of my life.
The master plan or design for that year was filled with shifts and issues that looked like a disaster. Now with the perspective that only comes with time and through God’s intervention, I have discovered that God was weaving a new design out of the things I saw as problems.
As you navigate this new year don’t be surprised if things shift from your perfect plan for the next 12 months. Rest assured that there is nothing that will happen that God cannot touch. Consider the following passages from scripture and be assured that God will never abandon you. When we surrender our lives, including our mistakes, and all of the unplanned and even unwanted challenges that will likely come, he will weave something beautiful out of our surrendered lives.
Father, as we read these passages from your word, fill us with faith in you, your word, and in what you can do even during difficult seasons. We surrender this day and this year into your hands and ask that you weave something that brings glory to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
2 Corinthians 4:16-18, 5:14-17; Philippians 3:13-14; James 1:2-4; Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV
Photo by Pexels
To receive daily posts delivered directly to your inbox, complete the form at the bottom of our home page.
