Turning Pages

I have been a holder-on, a lingerer, not always eager to turn the page to meet the unfamiliar. Some pages turn however warm or unwelcome the story following proves. Pages can be heavy to turn. Several pages turning at once are extra heavy, painful in ways, freeing in others.

A volley of transitions has both forced and allowed me to unwrap my grip and let go of ideas, plans, opinions, and…the security of familiarity. I have had new space to reach deeper to discover what truly identifies and anchors me. Big life questions, like who am I and why am I here, are finding answers outside of titles and roles. Who has God made me to be? What is my destiny? Is there a purpose in all this change?

I want a fulfilling life, the one God made me for. Is all this change shifting me into the place I am meant to be for now and for the future chapters of my life?

If anyone met page turns that looked out of plan or were heavy on the path to fulfilling His destiny, Jesus did. Digging into Matthew chapters one and two, it is evident Jesus’ life was replete with difficult and dangerous circumstances from its beginning. Mary could have been stoned for being pregnant with Jesus before her marriage to Joseph. Shortly after Jesus’ birth, King Herod, determined to eliminate Him and the threat He posed to his power, ordered the murder of all children age two and younger in Bethlehem to be sure to kill the one born King of the Jews.

Amid the threats, God kept intervening to save Jesus. Interestingly, He did so through dreams of divine instruction. He sent an angel to Joseph in a dream to tell him it was okay to marry Mary. He sent Joseph another dream to warn him to flee Bethlehem and take his family into Egypt, escaping King Herod and his murderous plot. God warned the wise men through a dream not to return to Herod, which would likely have kept information of Jesus’ whereabouts from him.

While much of this action looks like escaping, God is also leading Jesus to a place of purpose. Consider this section in Matthew that says

(19) But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

(20) Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.

(21) And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

(22) But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:

(23) And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene (Matthew 2:19-23).

In all the navigating and pivots to avoid disaster, God was moving this family to the very town in which Jesus was destined to live!

This points to God having a path laid before Him, already there, already constructed, ready for Him to travel when the time came. I find this very comforting!

Change in my life does not mean God changed His plan! As I continually experience the redirects within the turning of pages of my life, I must trust the Author of the stories on these pages.

Whether God speaks into my spiritual ears through His Word, dreams like in Matthew, sermons, prayer, or another way in line with scripture, I want to hear His voice with clarity and obey. When I do, I will get to the places He planned and purposed for me.

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