the future is in His hands

It's been a while since the last post. It's good to be back. It's been a time of reflecting and looking ahead, wondering what God has in mind and where he's leading our church and my family. It's a time of transition for both our church and possibly for our family, a time of potential renewing which is both exciting and a bit anxiety provoking. It came to a head this past Sunday as the text I preached on was Revelation 5 and how heaven was looking for one who was worthy to take the scroll of creation history and open it, setting it in motion and directing it on behalf of God the Father. Jesus, the slain Lamb is found to be worthy because he was slain for the sins of the world, he purchased people for God and has established a kingdom and priests for God. He is worthy because of his obedience and his great love for his people.
I realised that, while the future of our church isn't necessarily clear in terms of what we will look like or where we will even be, there are exciting possibilities and the ability to move forward with the opportunity to do some amazing ministry here, that though as a family we are wrestling through a number of things, we can move forward in trust and with hope because Jesus is in control and, as Paul says, "works everything out for our good," whatever that may be. That doesn't mean we simply drift along trusting in God to do his thing, it means we work hard on where we are heading as a church, that as a family we pray and work out the decisions we need to make. But we can do all this with the confidence that we are not walking along, that we don't need to trust simply in our own wisdom and strength, that God will bless us as we plan and work on doing the work he has placed here for us to do and being his presence here.
With that realization, a peace has come, knowing that the future is in good hands and they're not mine; that as we work on where God is leading, it will work out. I do hope that for those of you who may face big decisions, those of you who may be wondering about your future, that you will realise that it is in Jesus' hands and that by working hard with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you will be led in the right direction where God will be honoured and you will be blessed.