Feeling ALL SHOOK UP? by @clutz40

“For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NASB)

I walked barefoot upon the rough brown carpet into our new bedroom and fell into a heap onto our bed.  The tears came slowly at first, and then the sobs.  I don’t often cry, but when I do, it’s messy. My hubby rushed to my side and asked what was wrong.  “I… miss… our… home,” I managed to choke out. We’d recently moved to St. Louis from Corpus Christi, TX. Leaving behind my whole side of the family and the only place I’d ever called home.  My husband had decided to go back to seminary for a year and ponder our future.  Did he want to leave the pastoral ministry and perhaps go into missions? We were taking a year for him to study, and for us to seek the Lord regarding our future.  My world was “all shook up” as we maneuvered apartment living with an overactive two year old and a 6-month-old…and no family in town to babysit. 

The hardest part for me was we not have a clear plan.  Just tell me the plan, and I’ll work the plan. That’s how I roll.

I believe the times we feel the most “shook up” are the times we step into the unknown.

Please take a moment and contemplate the words of Jeremiah the prophet, written above. If the Lord, the sovereign King of the universe, our Creator, who chose us in eternity past…”knows the plan” isn’t that enough?  The plans are for “welfare and not calamity” he promises us “a future and a hope.”

As Holley Gerth quotes from John 5:17 above, “the Father is always at His work, and the Son is working as well.”

Close your eyes and pray with me. “Lord, when life feels ‘all shook up,' may we rest in the fact that You have a plan, and You are working that plan, and that is enough.  You are enough.  May we rest peaceably in You.”

What about YOU?

Do you feel your life is “all shook up?”  Look to the One who with one shout of “Peace, be still” can calm the anxiety in our hearts.

I close with the words of one of my favorite hymns; He Leadeth Me.

“Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,

Nor ever murmur nor repine;

Content, whatever lot I see,

Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.”

P.S.: The year we had in St. Louis ended up being so very special.  The Lord used it as a sabbatical time for my husband, and to confirm God’s call for him to continue in pastoral ministry for a season. The nurture I received from the seminary wives group was priceless. If we hadn’t stepped out of our comfort zone in the early years of our marriage, our faith in God’s provision and guidance would not be what it is now.

Cheryl Lutz is passionate to teach women how to tear down strongholds and find freedom in Christ. A pastor’s wife for twenty-five years, Cheryl possesses a vibrant love for teaching the Word of God. She is the founder of Securely Held, LLC, where she works as a trained and experienced lay counselor and speaker.

You may contact Cheryl through her blog at: www.securelyheld.com

On Facebook: www.facebook.com/securelyheld

Twitter: @clutz40

Email: clutz40@gmail.com