Letters from LZ - “For I know…”

My dear friends,

None of us is born with a commitment to Christ.  We first have to encounter Him, than we have to choose to follow.  In choosing to follow we become a story of redemption, of hope, and of wonder.   Our very lives a living breathing testimony to our LORD’s grace and love.  Yet, because pain remains in our lives we sometimes question God’s goodness.   We ask why and how.  Why Lord did You smite my God fearing mom with the dreadful pain of cancer?  Why Lord do You allow depression and sorrow to cut my wife when she devotes herself to You?  How do these troubles encourage me to follow and inspire me to be faithful? 

We all know that God doesn’t appoint us to be sick or to have trouble, but when things go wrong we sometimes blame and /or question His motives.  So, in our weakness we reclaim that part of our life we believe God is failing us at and return to being the main character in the story of our selfish little life.  However, in doing this we cheat ourselves, for in our LORD’s eyes we are more than a character in a story, we are the story. 

Consider this – “…For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jr 29:11).”  The Almighty God, the author of our lives, has a plan!  I pray the LORD’s declaration would keep you from being deceived into questioning His goodness.  That you would have peace and confidence as you travel the path of righteousness.   And that you wouldn’t worry about the LORD’s plan for you, because that plan is God’s will for the story of your life; a story with “hope and a future” – Christ and Heaven. 

Be encouraged; be faithful and live to glorify the Lord.  Your brother in Christ,

LZ.