Meeting Challenges

She handed me a slip of paper and said, "I thought maybe you could use this in your talk." I was getting ready to speak at a woman's retreat. I don't remember what I had to say so many years ago but what was written on that paper has stayed with me. It said, "I'm living the life God has given me to live and by His grace I'm meeting every challenge."

Every season of life has it's challenges but I find a deep since of comfort in knowing that the details of my life are not by chance. Psalm 139 says, "Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." God knew before I was born where He would place me in History and what challenges I would face.

"I'm living the life God has given me to live and by His grace I'm meeting every challenge." I see this in the life of King David. He was anointed King as a boy yet his life was filled with challenges where he had to learn to trust God's provision. Living the life God has given me to live means that my goal is to fulfill God's purposes in my generation. The only way I can do that is to do it by the grace He has made available to me.

God told the prophet Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart." The life God had chosen for Jeremiah was a difficult one. Jeremiah's assignment was to be a prophet to the nations. The message God spoke using Jeremiah's lips was not a popular message. Jeremiah served the purpose of God in his generation relying on the grace and power of God.

Father, I don't know what today will bring but You do. Thank you for the peace that comes from knowing that what is unknown to me is known to You. Thank You also in advance for the grace that You will provide for each challenge I have yet to face.