Looking back over the years, I’m amazed at how God planned my life and prepared me for the things ahead. I never would have woven my story in the way He has, but slowly He is creating a beautiful tapestry. I’m in awe of His faithfulness in giving me experiences and lessons at just the right time to prepare me for what He knew I’d be facing later.
When I started to write poems before age 9 – short and silly as they were – I never imagined that many years later, at age 19, I would sit down to write lyrics for songs for an original musical. But God knew; He gave me an enjoyment of words that rhyme, and used my silly poems that matured over the years to prepare me. Those poems prepared me for the task of counting syllables of rhyming lines that would be turned into a song by a friend whom He gave the gift of composing.
I still find it hard to believe that at age 8 I wrote a play to practice and perform at my birthday party, and then did it again at age 10. God gave me an enjoyment of theatre even back then... and little did I know where it would lead. At age 14 He allowed me to go to a drama camp, where, as I learned about the various jobs associated with the production process, I declared that I would never be a director. He must have laughed when, exactly a year later, I directed my first musical. It was truly God that turned this shy girl that didn’t think she could lead into a director working on her 7th musical and a teacher going in to her 4th year of ballet classes. I’ve learned to “never say never” when God’s involved.
At age 10 I learned to use the sewing machine to sew doll clothes, and by age 13, I had sewn my first dress. Over the years, God granted me an enjoyment of sewing, as I crafted skirts and dresses for myself and friends and matching clothes for nieces and nephews. I never expected that at age 17 I’d start sewing costumes for musicals, or that the skill would continue to come in useful to sew and alter dance costumes, be a valuable asset to the costume crews at college, and now oversee finding and making costumes for a cast of nearly 60, training other young girls to sew in the process. In the future, I hope this skill will come in useful as I establish a home and family of my own.
I could go on; there are people who have shaped who I am, things I studied that I never thought would be useful, only to find myself needing that knowledge, and experiences God’s given me – extremely hard at times – that prepared me to walk through the next thing He had planned. Some of those have helped me to relate to and reach others.
My God is a big God. He knows what I need when I don’t. Even now, He is preparing me for things I could never imagine. I may not know right now why I’m walking the path that I am, doing what I’m doing, and learning what He’s teaching me, but my faithful Father does.
Life is such an adventure with Him. I look forward to looking back in a year… five years… ten years… or even at the end of my life, and seeing how He used this time. Maybe then, things that are dim now will suddenly become clear.
My life is not a series of random events; it has a purpose – I have a reason for being where I am right now. It’s an amazing thing, to know that the God who created this universe created me for a purpose, and is involved in my day-to-day life.
With each day, He is preparing me to serve Him for His glory, and though things may not make sense now, I am learning to trust Him with each step. Do I do it perfectly? Definitely not. But with each lesson and each test, God always proves Himself faithful and trustworthy. It’s my prayer that I will continue to follow Him… no matter where He leads.
"The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me; Your love, O LORD, endures forever - do not abandon the work of Your hands." - Psalm 138:8
Never say never is basically my life quotes. It's amazing how God uses all the things we think we can't do to bring glory to Him!
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