Today is the First Day of the Rest of My Life

On this my 70th Birthday, I live in anticipation of God’s plan for the rest of my life. I am grateful for all of the years which I have been given thus far. I do live in an attitude of gratitude. I thank God for my faith, my family, my friends, my church families, my home, my pets, my retirement, countless blessings, and God’s favor in my life.

What is God’s will for my life? What is God’s purpose for my life? What are my passions? What are my plans forward?

Many years ago I asked God to show me if I was in His will. He answered me through Charles Stanley in a TV sermon. The televangelist pastor said that if I was seeking to be in God’s will and was questioning whether I was or not, I probably was in the place God wanted me to be at the time. I am an imperfect person, living in an imperfect world, seeking to know and to serve a perfect God. I believe that God, the creator, loves us, His creation, and has a plan and purpose for each of our lives.

Today in church Pastor Moore said that our quest is not as much to find God’s will as it is to know God’s will, because we know God. In John 10 we are told by Jesus, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”. I know God; He is my shepherd. Because He knows me and I know Him, I want to follow Him. I want to be in His will. I want to know Him better tomorrow than I do today. Meeting God and receiving Him as our Savior is just the first step on our faith journey. God, through Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, is my Lord, my Friend, my Shepherd, and my Everything. God’s will for my life is that I will become all that He wants me to be. As I practice his presence by being prayerful, thankful, aware, quiet, and in search of Him, our relationship and my faith grow. God longs for his children to desire Him more than we desire the answers to our questions and prayers. As we seek Him, we will know Him and know His will. Seek Him first and then other things which we are asking for will be added or given unto us as is promised in Matthew 6:33.

God wants to heal our spirits first. A closer walk and personal relationship with God comes first. It will then be followed by the answers to our prayers. Our answered prayer might be a physical healing, a financial healing, a relational healing, or the supply of a material need. When we know God and the scriptures, our prayers will line up with what we know is God’s will for us according to His Word. We will know right from wrong and be able to discern God’s direction for our lives when we grow spiritually. In Hebrews 5:13,14, God tells us to mature in our faith. We must start eating the meat of the word because we have only been on the milk or the basic teachings of the word. We must increase in the knowledge of God and His written word. As our faith grows and matures we will know God. We will know His direction and know His will for our lives.



When we walk, we go forward one step at a time. God will light our path. His word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path (Psalm 119:105). I don’t want to know my future, I just want to know God and have an internal peace about where He is leading me. Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is”.

God’s will for me is to love Him and to love others. My passion is my faith and my family. My purpose is to live for Christ and to share my faith by how I live. I want others to see the fruits of the gifts of the Spirit in my life (Galatians 5:22). My family is my legacy and it is my continual prayer that they seek, meet, know, and love the Lord as they walk their individual spiritual journeys. Our journeys aren’t always comfortable and God never promised that our roads would be easy. One thing that I know is that I will never walk my road alone because God will never leave me or forsake me (Hebrews 13:5,6 and Deuteronomy 31:8). My plan, as I move forward, is to follow God’s requirement for me as found in Micah 6:8. I am to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.

In Jeremiah 29:11-14, God tells me, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me. I will be found by you, says the Lord”. I believe in the promises of God and I know that He has my future in His hands.