Advent 2022: Right Place, Right Time

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” Micah 5:2

Sometimes I feel like I’m looking at a map with one red dot that says, “You are here,” and another red dot way on the opposite side of the terrain that says “God’s purpose for you is here.” I’m so very far away.  Four hundred after Micah’s prophecy, a young woman was startled to learn that she was pregnant with the Promised One – the Messiah.  But wait—she is in Nazareth and the prophecy said the Messiah would come out of Bethlehem, some 80 miles away.  So was the prophecy wrong?  Did God make a mistake?  Not at all.  The Sovereign One had a plan and He would use a pagan ruler to fulfill it. Check it out:

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. Everyone went to his own town to register.  So Joseph went up from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child” (Luke 2:1-5). Mary made it to the right place – Bethlehem – at the right time – when her baby was born – through the “whim” of a Roman ruler who had no reverence for the God of Israel. I find tremendous peace in that.

God has a time and place of purpose in His plan for you.  You probably won’t get there via a straight line.  You may feel you are completely off track, or that God has forgotten all about you.  You’re not sure how you wound up where you are or why.  But be assured that God, who created you with a time and place in mind, knows exactly where you are right now and where He wants you to be and when you need to be there.  He didn’t fail to fulfill the prophecy of old, and He won’t fail to fulfill His purpose for your life.  Hear me on this Beloved, wherever you are today is not the end of your journey.  Trust Him, trust His ways, trust His heart.  He knows the where and the when and the way to get you there.

God Has a Plan

Today marks four years of serving God at The Baptist College of Florida. It has been the best four years of my working life. I’ve never loved a job more than I do this one. This opportunity came on the heels of a very difficult year of joblessness, hard decisions about where to go, physical and emotional pain, dire financial hardship, and so much discouragement. Now I see the truth of one of my favorite verses: “You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with Joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand (Psalm 16:11). And I see His hand all over the path now. He used those hard months to direct us to the right place at right time. Me losing my job and knocking on every possible door in Tuscaloosa with no success, my husband being forced into medical retirement, and the realization that we couldn’t afford to stay where we were caused us to have to move back home. Into this house that God chose for us. 8.8 miles from my dream job. And big enough for the Joy that was coming.

I see that the Theology degree I got at seminary – the one I was told had no practical purpose to it – was one of the things on my resume that drew the Dean’s attention. And the fact that I did it all online was another plus, as the school’s online students are now more than 50% of their enrollment. And that season of loving and ministering to college students gave me yet another point of connection. Eighteen years of serving as a Church Administrative Assistant gave me the skills and experience that are a good fit for this position. I could go back farther and farther and I’m sure I will find His hand more and more. God has been at work my whole life to bring me here. And He’s not through yet! He is allowing me to gain more education at BCF for whatever is ahead.

All these things seemed unrelated on the long journey of my life. But God saw them all as means to a purpose. As training for His plan. The same is true for you Beloved. Your life has not been a haphazard series of experiences, jobs, school, and people. God has a purpose for everything. It’s all been working toward His goal. Even the hard things. Especially the hard things. I said it four years ago, and I can say it with even more conviction today: It’s all coming together just as He planned.

This Is The Way

A few years ago I needed to drive from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham to pick up my husband at the airport. I also had to pick up my son from work on the way. Both required me to drive on I-20 East. I headed to my normal exit – blocked. What? I went to the next exit – blocked. Okay. Drove to a third exit – blocked again. My GPS was stubbornly trying to get me back to the blocked exits and I could not convince her to find another route. We’d only lived there a year and I rarely drove far from home, so I had no idea where another exit was. At this point, a touch of panic began to set in and without thinking I muttered “O Lord, what am I gonna do?” Then I realized what I had said and turned my lament into a prayer: “Lord, what do I need to do here?” The GPS suddenly told me to turn right and I noticed that the road I was on was running parallel to I-20 and in just a few miles I came to another exit – just past the big wreck that had closed the interstate. I breathed a prayer of thanks as I got onto the open exit and headed in the right direction.

I immediately thought about Isaiah 30:21 which says “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”

We often get in a panic trying to determine God’s will because we think it’s up to us to find it. But that is the enemy trying to overwhelm and confuse you. God has a definite plan for your life. He does not expect you to blindly stumble along in the hopes that you’ll happen upon it by chance. He has the route mapped out and He will guide you each step of the way – but often only one step at a time, and not always the direct route you expect. If you’re wondering where you’re supposed to be, don’t panic, just ask the Lord, “What do I need to do here?” and follow exactly where he leads.

Leave Your Past in Your Past

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

I caught myself the other day thinking, “If I could only go back and change my past…”  I’m sure we’ve all said the same.  “I would have gone to college.” “I would have chosen a different career.”  “I would have (or wouldn’t have) gotten married.”  It doesn’t always have to be choices as big as those.  “I wish I didn’t say that.” “I shouldn’t have eaten that.” “Why did I waste money on that?”   Who hasn’t lamented something in their past?  For some, the choices were huge and life-altering.  For others, the choices were not quite as monumental but we still wish we could do them over.  I’ve made more than my fair share of mistakes. I’m the poster child for foolishness and failure. I have spent so much time living with regrets, wishing I had made wiser decisions, or that circumstances had turned out differently.  I have discovered that when I live in constant regret I set myself up for a very sad life.  But it doesn’t have to be.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned about regret is to look ahead, not behind.God said, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.  (Isaiah 43:18-19)  He specializes in fresh starts. But it’s even more than a do-over; this is the genesis of “a new thing.” He has and continues to do that for me.  He has taken so many dead ends and made“a way in the desert” of my life.  He has turned so many hard seasons into “streams in the wasteland.”  But if I sit in the ashes and lament my past, I will not see the new things God wants to do.

Yes, Beloved, you have a past. But you can be sure of one thing: God has a plan and a purpose for you – and your past doesn’t change that. In fact, it may just be the “fertilizer” for your future.

You Are Here

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” Micah 5:2

Sometimes I feel like I’m looking at a map with one red dot that says, “You are here,” and another red dot way on the opposite side of the map that says “God’s purpose for you is here.” I’m so very far away.  Four hundred after Micah’s prophecy, a young woman was startled to learn that she was pregnant with the Promised One – the Messiah.  But wait—she is in Nazareth and the prophecy said the Messiah would come out of Bethlehem, some 80 miles away.  So was the prophecy wrong?  Did God make a mistake?  Not at all.  God had a plan and He would use a pagan ruler to fulfill it. Check it out:

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. Everyone went to his own town to register.  So Joseph went up from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child” (Luke 2:1-5).

Mary made it to the right place – Bethlehem – at the right time – when her baby was born – through the “whim” of a Roman ruler who had no reverence for the God of Israel.

Beloved, God has a time and place of purpose in His plan for you.  You probably won’t get there via a straight line.  You may feel you are completely off track, or that God has forgotten all about you.  You’re not sure how you wound up where you are or why.  But be assured that God, who created you with a time and place in mind, is still guiding you.  He knows exactly where you are right now and where He wants you to be and when.  He didn’t fail to fulfill the prophecy of old, and He won’t fail to fulfill His purpose for your life.  Wherever you are today is not the end of your journey.  Trust Him, trust His ways, trust His heart.  He knows the where and the when and the way to get you there.