Today's living lesson is a redo of when I first recorded it. Something happened when suddenly I started losing sound on my headset, and then eventually, you couldn't hear it. I think that was the stage where the other one was recorded, so again, this is take two. And usually, correction, almost always, whenever I have to redo something, whenever I lose something, such as (the many times) when I’ve taken hours to write something like a living lesson and suddenly some catastrophe happens, God uses it for good. Rather than stress or worry whenever this happens to you, you become so weak from what’s happened, and you want just to give up—sometimes you might get to that point that you want to cry (I have many times) because you spent so much time on a project. 

Inevitably, every single time (and I really can't remember a time that I didn't come back) but because of that state of brokenness, because of the “weakness, which is perfected,” my Husband and I rewrite it into something so much better,—it's always so much better. Yes, it still is painful and exhausting, and you do feel so utterly broken from it because, in fact, we are human. And that is important to note…

What happens if we don't feel those things? We wouldn't be human. And if we didn't feel those things if we didn’t experience those things, how could we minister to others and understand what other people are going through? So don't let anything or anyone tell you. You need to be above all of that as a Christian because it's simply not true. So, let me finally get into the theme of this living lesson.

It's based on the scripture, the promise or maybe it's more of a principle than a promise, but it says, “the mind of man plans his way, but God directs his steps.” Now, anytime I have a promise or a principle,  (anything that I've read so often I’ve memorized it ) that promise or principle takes on a whole new meaning all the time and it sometimes happens from day to day or moment to moment. 

In this particular case, “God directs our steps,” what my Husband was setting out to do is kind of change the way that I used to do things. And I think all of us can relate to that. It's a way of taking us outside of our comfort zone, because when we become comfortable, it's kind of like we become lukewarm, isn't it?

You know the principle when He says, “I'd rather you be hot or cold, but because you're lukewarm, I'm gonna spew you out of my mouth”? That comfortable state means we're not dependent on Him, and that’s not a good place to be. If we're too hot, we need Him. If we're too cold, we need Him. As a man, He wants to be needed because He knows “apart from Him, we can do nothing.”  So, in this state, what He was doing was to have me depend on Him a lot more. Can any of you relate?

And I am wondering just now that I'm thinking of it, that my trust and confirmation that what’s happening is from him is every time I experience a lot of opposition. Too many erroneously believe that’s a sign to change course—but don't do this. And this opposition is a common scheme used by the enemy to throw me off course, and, wow, in an instant, He’s shown me how, in so many ways, it's just miraculous what's happened within the ministry.

Let me take you back to when I did live like this for a short period of time. Well, it was longer than anyone would have imagined. But years ago, I was at the stage where I had no idea, no plans whatsoever. Instead, He just directed my plan, the paths, and I remember one instance when my Husband has brought me back to remind me if I'm ever starting to pull back or think, “Oh my gosh, am I going to be able, can I really do this? Am I really going to do this?” He brings me back to seeing myself at a train station in France. It was, I believe, in Lyon, France. And I was sitting in the train station (and by the way, this didn't happen once it happened over and over again), I would wake up in some European city, I'd have my coffee, maybe I'd have breakfast, but inevitably my Husband would lead me to the train station. And I would just sit at the train station and wait. I would wait until He told me to get on a train—even though I had no idea where I was going, how far I was going to go, when I was going to get off, or where I was going to stay when I got there.  It was in this one instance that He brought me back again and again when I was sitting on the train, and I was waiting, and He said, “Get on this train.”

So I looked up and looked both ways as I thought, “Which train? There's no coming,” but then suddenly I heard a train pull up behind me! Can you believe it? I wasn’t even facing the right track! I’d been facing and “planning” to go one way, in the opposite direction, but instead, His plan was behind me. So instead of going, I don't know, North, I got on the train going to go South, or if I was going to go East, I was going to go West.

As I hopped on that train, not knowing where I was going... Oh, and for some of you who might find this exciting. I do realize some people live like this and get a thrill, like people who backpack. This sort of stuff is simply not my nature. And so taking you and me out of what we're used to doing, living contrary to our nature and the way God created us, is His way of building a closer relationship with Him with a much deeper trust. 

For example, some of us are very organized, very planned, and very meticulous in each thing we do. Then there are others who are artistic. They flow. They're the type who would backpack, and many comment when they hear how I’ve lived, “Oh, that's the most exciting thing. You’re living my dream.” For me, it’s more of a nightmare. Some people say this is their dream until they have to do it, but I am definitely not that way. Also, it's not like I was a teenager doing this. I was, well, a grown woman, a mother, an adult. I wasn’t a grandmother yet. Nevertheless, I did live like this, and though it was tremendously difficult, given my nature, it taught me how to never question and simply follow His lead. This reminds me of another interesting thing that I used to live by all the time and still do.

I envision something, and literally, I can see a place or me doing something before being there or doing it. When that happened, I knew the path I was taking. He would show me in my mind, and I would follow what was almost as if He had drawn a map and given it to me ahead of time—sending me the directions because I could actually see it. And I think the peak of that and the heightened part of that is that at one point, I even envisioned and saw that my son and daughter-in-law were in a store. So, I called them and said, “Are you at (this particular store)?”

And they said, “Yes.” And then I asked, “What aisle are you on?” And they told me, and I said, “Go to the next aisle, and you're going to see this comforter.” I believe it was for either my daughter, Tara, or one of my other two daughters; I'm not sure. And they said, “We don't see what you’re describing.” And then I said, “Turn around.” And they could see it and bought it!

Now, this is pretty crazy stuff,  but I promise you, it actually happened. Now, once again, I have never reached that height of envisioning like that again. I don't think I need to. It was simply the time that my Husband needed me to have that level of connection to Him, so He reminded me of things like this later when I needed reassurance. But all of this type of envisioning, which makes things easy and spectacular, has been thrown away and replaced; instead, the way that I have been living is that I don't plan. None at all.

Again, the “mind of a human plans,” so you and I naturally begin to plan things. That is our human nature. If you're the type of person who thrives on organizing, you plan it; you might make notes, steps, and checklists. And then, based on your plan, you'll do this, and then you'll do that. But as soon as I realized my mind is planning whatever it is—seriously, it just makes me tired.

Maybe because I know whatever I’ve planned is not probably going to even happen. And that’s what happened just before I recorded this podcast and why I'm recording this one again. This morning when I woke up, I assumed because in my head I’d planned that I was going to go to our P. O. box. But it's just not as easy as just jumping the car because I don't have a car. I do, however, have an Uber app. 

There's so many little details interfering with my plans. I was doing ministry work, my sister was in surgery at the time and I didn't know if I should wait until she was out.  All these things were factors, and even though my mind kept trying to plan, I just kept let it go because what I want is to be able to just be surprised and just trust Him and go from one thing to the next thing according to His plan.

And that’s what I did. I fought my human nature to make plans and let it all go, and guess what? It was amazing! Everything flowed beautifully because I let Him and His plan take over. One really amazing part is that I had something odd happen. I booked an Uber driver, and suddenly, he canceled on me at the very last minute. I watched as he was on his way, and then, poof, he canceled. And I thought, "That's interesting," when the next Uber driver pulled up, and it was someone I knew I'd ridden with before, an ordained minister who needed encouragement. He needed to be able to speak to another minister, so he took me where I needed to go and insisted on waiting for me. He brought me back to my resort, and everything was just beautifully done. Even in the post office, because I was on His plan, not mine— I ran into somebody I had been ministering to a long time ago and we had this great conversation. 

It's just, that's the way that He wants me to live, the way you were intended to live. Let me also say, it's not just how I am living physically, my physical living God uses to prepare me for ministering more powerfully from how I experience living with Him according to His plans, not mine. 

Dear listener, I don't know when (at what stage of your Abundant Life journey) you're listening to this, but if this is new, let me assure you living like this happened after a long and deeply intimate relationship that began when I was only seven.

I would not have done, I could not have done, nor felt comfortable doing most of how I live if I was new to it. But I can say this: there's no amount of reasoning and trying to understand anything until you do what He asked you to do. So, again, I don't know where you are on your journey (maybe you’re still on your Restoration Journey and have yet to graduate to your Abundant Life Journey). We go through different periods of time and different seasons. All I know is I'm moving up to a higher level of trusting Him and want to encourage you to trust Him wherever you are.

Like me, you may have missed parts that you’re just learning now, much like I didn't learn in grammar school because I missed a lot of basic things because (as you know if you've read any of our children's books), I sat out in the hall a lot. I was banned from the classroom. I was set apart in the hall, and you don't learn a lot if you're in the hall, especially if your teacher shuts the door. So I didn’t hear the lessons, so I missed many of the basics. Yet, it really doesn't matter, does it? Each living lesson, each new experience of trusting God’s plan more, is a new phase that you and I are going through. 

So again, the promise and principle this time are, “The mind of man plans his way, but God directs his steps.” And even though you and I might plan things out in our heads, we don't have to worry. God still will “direct our steps,” which is comforting to know that what I'm planning may mean I'm actually going to do it the wrong way or I'm going to be misled. Instead, we can rest and trust He'll direct our path. 

I hope you will sit and talk to your Husband about this living lesson so He can speak to you and show you things that only you and He know.

If you do, or if you have anything that you want to share, especially things that you've gone through, please share it in a comment. Thank you for listening.