God Has His Own Plan

Psalm 33:11, "But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations."

One of the most challenging things for me is when I sense that the Lord is really leading me and challenging me to step out in faith, confirmed by counsel of Godly people in my life, and from what I can find in his written word; I step out in faithful obedience and..., everything falls completely apart.

So what happened?
Did I miss God's voice?
Was I just imagining that it was God leading me?

It is always possible that it was wishful thinking of course, but often it has been my experience that I had assumed what the outcome was going to be. I assumed that everything was going to work out into a nice neat little package and I was going to prosper. Maybe God had something different in mind. Rom 8:28 tells us that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. There's that phrase; "his purpose", not mine. The next verse (29) actually explains that his purpose is conforming us into the likeness of his Son. It doesn't appear that God is nearly as concerned about our circumstances as he is in using those circumstances to glorify himself with that image he is creating in us. For me anyway, it takes trust and faith to a whole new level. We love to hear testimonies of when we obeyed and God made everything work out splendidly. But sometimes the testimony is that everything fell apart but I developed greater faith, trust and patience. We may not like it as much but it seems that it's more likely what God's purposes will bring about. If we will only be obedient. God bless you all.