Thankful Thursday

'For I know the plans 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

Oh, how thankful I am the Lord has a plan for me. He has a plan that gives me a future. A plan that gives me hope.

I haven't mentioned it too much lately, but in the spring and early summer I wrote several posts regarding difficult situations I was facing at work. I mentioned more than once that I felt God leading in a different direction but didn't yet know what direction. However, I have always been so thankful that I could trust in this verse. Always knowing that even if God had not yet revealed the plan to me that I could trust it would be what was best for me. And that it would be a plan full of future and always full of hope.

Over the last few months God has started to slowly reveal His plan and is changing my heart and my desires in the process. I have ALWAYS been a "career gal". Always wanting to be in the business world. We've been lucky that I've worked in situations and with people that allowed me to do this but also keep my family a priority. We've been able to balance the work and the family. (And, just as a sidenote... as much as I've always been that "career gal", if I would not have been able to balance the work and the family then the work would've been ditched quickly.)

The last couple of years have found me more and more unsettled in my career and have put before me more and more challenges that did make it difficult to maintain the work and family balance. As I became more unsettled I was also placed in some very difficult situations and saw some of my closest friends and co-workers laid off and without a job. I've been saddened and struggled with life in the corporate world.

Over the last few months God has placed an opportunity in front of hubby and I that excites me to no end. It would give me flexibility in my schedule and even more time with my family but would also allow me to maintain some of my "career gal" desires and allow me to do something else that I have always wanted to ... own and operate my own business. It feels "right". It feels blessed by God.

The downside to it all is that until we begin making a profit I am working my full time job and then working on this new business after I put the kids to bed at night. And, no... it's not alot of fun! :) However, it is the direction God is leading and I know because of that it is for good. I have a peace about it all. It will land us in a good place in the months to come. And, one thing I've had to remind myself on many of these late nights is that God never promised His road would be easy. He did, however, promise to be right beside us thru it all. I can assure you.... He has been with us thru it all so far.... and I know He will continue to be with us thru it in the months to come.

Thank you, Lord, for this promise you gave to us thru Jeremiah. A promise that we can ALWAYS count on. A promise that YOUR plan is always the BEST plan!

For more Thankful Thursday visit Iris at Grace Alone...!