I started playing guitar at the age of nine and very quickly was playing music wherever I could. All through my high school years, I spent my weeknights rehearsing and my weekends playing in clubs and bars around the area. My hair was long, I hung out with a questionable crowd, and I’m sure there were many who thought I would never amount to anything.
But at the age of twenty-two, I gave my life to Christ. I stopped playing in the bars, and gradually got plugged in at church. God continued to grow me, and eventually called me into full-time ministry. The kid who didn’t care about God, religion, or education is now a teaching and counseling pastor with two graduate degrees. Who would have believed it!
That’s the way it is when you get on board with God and allow Him ownership and access of your life. He takes you places you never dreamed.
That’s what God is beginning to do for the Children of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 3. Forty years prior to this time, they could not imagine themselves conquering the land of Canaan. There were fortified cities and giants there. The Israelites never thought it could happen.
But forty years later, they have surrendered to God and find themselves conquering walls cities (Deut. 3:4-5) and subduing giants (Deut. 3:3,11). That which once seemed out of reach was now under their feet. Who would have believed it!
Question: What is it that seems beyond you…beyond your imagination…beyond your ability? Before you make up your mind that you can’t do it, read Eph. 3:20 and give your imagination to God. You may find yourself in places you never dreamed before!
Ha. I was the groupie! So Bret..you’re my superhero. If you came in a plastic character I would put you on my top shelf.
Thank you for always keeping it real- good thing life has stepping stones that keep us out of muddy path called life… heres to always going forward.
You’re too kind. Amen to the stepping stones. I couldn’t find my way out of a paper bag if not for God guiding my blind and often stubborn heart. I agree…here’s to going forward! Thanks for reading.
I’m smack dab in the middle of this, Bret! And you were a huge part of the healing that has occurred to get me here. About Oct 2016 once starting to attend Mosaic, I began to fully surrender WHO & WHAT I thought I was to our Mighty God (led in healing prayer by Carolyn Moore). Since that time, I’ve finally understood, internally, that I really am His Beloved…and He is mine. Carolyn firmly encouraged me to sing about my freedom from shame (Easter 2017) & to tell my story, which I did the day before I left for Indy (June 10, 2018). Yep! Told my story then ran for the hills the very next day! Well, Indy has more flat cornfields than hills, but you get the idea. So, just this past Saturday, my daughter interviewed me at a women’s event asking questions like:
~ How did your childhood inform your thoughts about who God is?
~When did you sense the first time that God REALLY loved you?
~How has community helped in confirming His love for you? These questions were a great segue to share my story.
Looking back over my whole life, back to the years in your group & under your counsel as well as the time with and away from God…I know many are saying or could say “who would have believed it?” about my own life.
Thank you for being faithful to your call, for never judging me & always pointing me to the Lover of my soul. Phillipians 1:3
I cannot tell you how much your words make my heart sing. I am so proud of you! You have always been more loved, more needed, and more full of potential than you’ve known, but now I’m thankful to hear God is continuing to open your eyes to this. Where God is taking you is amazing, and I consider it a privilege to have been a part of that ride. Continue growing strong and paying it forward. Love you to the moon and back. (And I know about the cornfields. I grew up in that general part of the country.)