{"id":7053,"date":"2024-02-08T08:32:29","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T16:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/randyalcorn\/?p=7053"},"modified":"2024-01-26T10:07:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T18:07:24","slug":"sovereignly-led-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/randyalcorn\/2024\/02\/sovereignly-led-me\/","title":{"rendered":"I Can Trust God for the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/p>\n

Recently I shared this on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In all my hardest times, God has been there. He\u2019s been faithful to me when I had to resign as a pastor, had issues with church leaders, went through lawsuits and public scorn, was restricted to minimum wage, and faced disease and depression and the deaths of close friends and family members, including the death of my beloved wife and best friend, Nanci. I don\u2019t understand why everything has happened, but I have seen a great deal of good come out of much of it. Because of who God is and all He\u2019s done for me, I trust Him to use all the other difficulties in ways I will not understand until I enter His presence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Several commenters said that they hadn\u2019t heard that part of my story before and looked it up. It was a good reminder that some of those who follow our ministry aren\u2019t aware of the history of how Eternal Perspective Ministries started. As you watch\u00a0 this video<\/a>, I hope it makes you think about God\u2019s sovereignty and leading in your own life:<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\nThose who believe that God doesn\u2019t know about billions of future choices and the events that flow out of those choices must simply hope for the best. Those who believe in a God who knows \u201cthe end from the beginning\u201d (Isaiah 46:10), however, can relax because even though\u00a0they\u00a0<\/em>don\u2019t know what lies ahead, their sovereign God does.<\/p>\nIn the several years that we found ourselves in the middle of the stressful situation with the lawsuits, Nanci and I would talk with our daughters, assuring them that God remained in control, that He knew everything that would happen, and that we could trust Him to use it for good. And He has!<\/p>\nIn the journal she kept during her cancer years, Nanci reflected on those earlier challenges we faced: \u201cLord, you used the Lovejoy trial and verdict to shape so many lives\u2014especially those of our daughters. Your plan was not to deliver us out of that literal trial. Your plan was to deliver us\u00a0through<\/em>\u00a0that trial and verdict. By allowing such a severe verdict and penalty, you led us onto a path that was marvelous beyond our hopes. So many blessings were piled along that path for us and countless others. We couldn\u2019t have dreamed what you had in store for us.\u201d<\/p>\nLater in her journal, she quoted Charles Spurgeon:<\/p>\n<blockquote>As to the future, all of us are blind and cannot see an hour ahead us. But the Lord will lead us right up to our journey\u2019s end\u2026Happy are those who place their hand in that of the Great Guide, and leave their way and themselves entirely with Him. He will bring them all the way. And when He has brought them home to glory and has opened their eyes to see the way by which He has led them, what a song of gratitude will they sing to their great Benefactor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHenrietta C. Mears wrote, \u201cI know not the way He leads me, but well do I know my Guide.\u201d Because of\u00a0God\u2019s grace and sovereignty, we can fully trust Him in whatever is ahead!<\/p>\nPhoto:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/gray-concrete-pathway-between-green-grass-field-under-blue-sky-during-daytime-JK1cQkLnUsk?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Unsplash<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recently I shared this on\u00a0Facebook: In all my hardest times, God has been there. He\u2019s been faithful to me when I had to resign as a pastor, had issues with church leaders, went through lawsuits and public scorn, was restricted to minimum wage, and faced disease and depression and the deaths of close friends and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2661,"featured_media":7056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[856,96,44,1126,5958,2627],"class_list":["post-7053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-life","tag-difficulties","tag-future","tag-god","tag-history","tag-led","tag-sovereign"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>I Can Trust God For the Future<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Even though we don\u2019t know what lies ahead, their sovereign God does.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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