The short answer to this week's topic is found in the book of Acts, chapter 17 verse 26. I'm here because this is where God put me and when he thought I should be here. When faced with a life-and-death dilemma, Queen Esther was admonished by her cousin Mordecai, "and who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14). In the last chapter of the book of Genesis, Joseph, who had been sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, had risen to the second most powerful position in that land. His brothers were afraid of reprisal, but Joseph assured them, "as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive."
The providence of God is an interesting topic, but one that is very hard to see at any given moment. It is much easier to recognize in the rearview mirror. For example, as a young man I hopped from job to job in the first 10 years of our marriage. The only thing I was consistent in was coaching teenagers in baseball. When I decided to go back to school to get my degree so I could coach at the high school level, I thought my destiny was set. I intended to go to night school where we lived, but through a series of events and a couple of hard decisions, we ended up moving to a college town three hours away.
During my time in school I made good grades and was very active in the church where we worshiped, teaching teen Bible classes. There was a lot of growth in the group through that period of time. As I was approaching graduation and fielding job offers to coach, the elders of the congregation came and offered me a position as youth minister. I accepted it and begin my work in the ministry.
To make the story short enough for one blog, I prayed that God would use me in whatever way he chose. The next thing we knew we were living in Dallas, though we hated the big city. But while we were there we became first foster and then adoptive parents who are youngest daughter, Bethany.
As our older girls neared their teens we began praying that we would find a congregation in South Texas in a small town that had lots of kids for her girls mix with and ultimately date. Within six months we were in a small town in South Texas. We had a good ministry there for quite a few years, but we believe one reason we were there was to find Mike, who's now my son-in-law.
After nine years there, I was approached about the job that I now hold, though I was not looking for a new job. There were lots of changes in my life after I accepted this job, but I could never figure out why I was here. But in recent years have come to believe that the predominant reason I am here, by choice, was because the congregation has been supporting my daughter in a mission field for more than 16 years. Not many places would send a young single woman overseas, but our congregation did with very little reservation. So I have come to believe that being HERE is not about me, or even really about my daughters, or Mike, but about Him.
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