I started going to a new church, and it’s one where they have many pastors who give the sermon. I’ve been attending a short while, and I’ve already setup my "line-up" of pastors’ with whom their sermons rate with me - from "oh yeah!" to "struggling to stay with them". Last week was the "oh yeah!" pastor, and this week was the "struggling" type. Blame it on being selfish, being used to a certain format, blame it on the "news in an instant" society that we live in… Or maybe because this pastor’s on the older side. Now, don’t get me wrong, respect is given nonetheless… but I barely had anything written in my notes. It’s not like he didn’t say anything worthy of it being written down - He just doesn’t speak in a format where I can easily take notes without 1) losing the point of the sermon, and 2) I don’t want to spend a lot of time writing notes, and I end up losing things that he shares bc I’m writing things down. He had a lot of stories and spent a lot of time setting them up…. Wasn’t the most ideal format with how I take notes - No offense to him.

But he did say one thing that I just had to write down, something incredibly impactful

When I heard that, I just loved it. I knew that in my next quiet time, I wanted to write something that goes in that direction.

Now, we know that God is the Ultimate, All-Knowing, and that when he wants something done, there isn’t a thing that we can do to prevent it from happening. Even when we fail, it does nothing that offsets His Plan. That’s how awesome our God is - Even with our imperfection-laden free-will, whether we choose to follow Him or not, His "original plan" will not falter.

One of the greatest things that I love about God is, even when we fail, He does not give up on us. I can most certainly not say the same thing. Pre-baptism, leaving people and relationships were as simple as breathing. Even post-baptism, I’ve learned to setup stronger, clearer-defined boundaries with personal & professional relationships. In the end, if it does not benefit me (or has a negative affect upon me), I don’t need it in my life. And yet, God can most certainly say that about me, but still has not given up on me… He still gives me that millionth "second chance".

I won’t speak for anyone else, but in the beginning of my "walk with God", I felt incredible but also unworthy - I’ve spent 35+yrs of my life, living the way I wanted - God can’t possibly use me, similar to the ways in which He uses others around me. I felt like a "plan B". And every time I fell back into sin, gave into anger or frustration, impurity… I felt like I screwed up, and put myself back onto God’s "b-team". Even after so many years of being his willing disciple, I still have a hard time bouncing back from my personal sin, where I "still know" that I am loved as His son.

God is so powerful, that even with my failures, it doesn’t change His Plan. Whatever He wants to happen, will still happen despite my attitude, mouth or impurity. All He really wants from us it to know Him and to glorify Him. If we are living our lives where we know more about him today, that we did yesterday, and if we are glorifying Him in all that we do (despite our sinful nature), then God’s plan is not thwarted. It’s so easy to forget that these struggles or failures are used to bring us closer to Him, along with Glory unto Himself.