365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 110

Yesterday in church, our pastor was on fire with lots of passion. He will be leaving our church soon which is sad but he has to go where God is calling him. He was continuing with a sermon on the Gospel of Matthew which we have been into since last fall. We were at the part when Jesus is arrested. Pastor Singleton suggested that like him most of us at some time or many times have thought about 'what if'. What if Judas didn't betray Jesus? What if Jesus didn't have to die on the cross? And the what if's in our own life... What if I communicated better, we wouldn't have had that fight? What if I was more on top of Faith's homework, she wouldn't have missed doing and turing in a big assignment? And the list could go on and on... Singleton shared a story of his from 20 years ago when he said to his congregation 'you need to be bringing your own bible to church'. Later he was reamed by his congregation because as Presbyterian we don't bring our own bibles, we just use what's in the pews along with some other excuses. He doesn't remember why he said that or what context it was in but in his mind he had made a big mistake saying that to his congregation. Fast forward 20 years later... A man who was at that sermon 20 years earlier by chance ends up in our town at our church now and sees it's the same pastor from 20 years earlier. He goes up to him and tells him this story: I was not true believer when I was in church that day 20 years ago when you told us we need to bring our own bible to church. I went home and your words stayed with me. I finally went and pulled out my old bible from my childhood. It opened up to a page in Proverbs and out fell a letter from my mother explaining more about the verses on that page about God's love. I became a believer and have gone on to have a wonderful family and have adopted multiple children. What Singleton had thought was this mistake he made, God turned into something very good. There are probably thousands of stories around the world of examples like this. God can take the worst that happens, the worst we could do and make something good come from it. What we say or do no matter if in our minds comes out good or not so good, God will take it and use it for his good purpose of bringing others to his Kingdom. We don't have to beat ourselves over and over again for our past mistakes. God has used them for his good. No more 'what if's'.
Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.