In 1978 , Glenn and I became the proud legal guardians/parents of 4 beautiful children, two boys, two girls that were actually my nieces and nephews. Our lives changed overnight again. In 1985 our miracle child was born, a beautiful little baby girl that we named Megan. One we had given up trying to concieve. The youngest of the 4 is our Brenda, now the mom of our beautiful Kara Lanae and Kaelee Grace Noble, and their two little sisters Lydia and Aubrey. The twins moved in with us 3 yrs ago and blew up our quiet, nearly retired life, our lives changed overnight again. God leads and changes our wants and desires and personalities to be able to do the work He calls us to do. Nothing happens by chance. It's all planned. Our job is to submit to that plan and ask God to take over. He won't push himself on anybody. That wouldn't be love would it?
For me, it has never been explained so beautifully than this; in Rick Warrens Book, " The Purpose Driven Life ". He states... " You are not an accident. Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God. He thought of you first, It is not fate, nor chance , nor luck, nor coincidence that you are breathing this moment. You are alive because God wanted to create you! He also decided when you would be born and how long you would live. He planned the days of your life in advance, choosing the exact time of your birth and death". Psalm 139:16 "You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe, Every day was recorded in your book". "
"God also planned where you'd be born and where you'd live for his purpose. Your race and nationality are no accident. God left no detail to chance. He planned it all for His purpose".
"Most amazing, God decided how you would be born. Regardless of the circumstances of your birth or who your parents are, God had a plan in creating you. It doesn't matter whether your parents were good, or bad, or indifferent. God knew that those two individuals possessed exactly the right genetic makeup to create the custom "you" he had in mind. Thy had the DNA God wanted to make you. While there are illegitimate parents, there are no illegitimate children. Maybe not planned by parents, but they are planned by God. God's purpose took into account human error, even sin"............
That doesn't mean He permits sin, or plans it. We are still accountable to Him for the things we do. It does give a glimpse of how deep His love is for us and that nobody or nothing can change the direction of His plan for us. Sure wish I would have learned that when I was about 15 yrs old. It took me forever to figure out I could leave all my guilt behind. Now I can teach this to my kids.
He meets us where are. He never said we have to be perfect first and then He would love us. He always knew how blind we would be until we finally gave up on ourselves and asked Him to open our eyes and let Him in. I finally get it now, up to this point anyway.
I cannot express how grateful I am to have learned these truths while all our children and our grandchildren were still here on this earth with us so we could share it all with them. Little did we know what sacrifice and love really meant...............