Powerful Moments

     I believe God has a perfect and special plan for each and every one of us.  You know the verse, Jeremiah 29:11.  I also believe the plans he has for us are specific for each individual person.  Knowing that God has a unique plan for me and my future is hopeful, how should I respond?  Is there a specific way to respond?  There are many different responses we could have.  Living a life that is thankful is a great response.  Just being grateful for all God has in store for your life.  Surrender is also a great response we could have.  Trusting that God’s plans for you are better than yours.  I heard a quote a while back that sums up for me how I want to respond and how I would encourage anyone to respond.  “If you believe there is hope in the future, then there is power in the moment.”  What makes this quote my ultimate response is that if I truly believe God has great plans for me that will prosper me and not harm me, then I definitely have hope in those future plans coming to pass.  If I have hope those plans will come to pass then every moment holds some amount of power.  

    A moment can be defined as “a particular period of time’.  The Bible says that God is always working (John 5).  It also shows that God can change a situation suddenly.  I believe at any particular period of time, good or bad, there is potential to move you closer to the future God has planned for you.  Take David for example. In 1 Samuel 17 David’s Father sent him to deliver food to his brothers.  In verse 15 it says “David went back and forth from Saul to tend his Father’s sheep”.  In other words, David had made this trip before.  Probably multiple times.  So it wasn't new to him.  It was an ordinary moment that turned into one of the most powerful moments of his life.  A catalyst moment!  You know the rest of the story. David shows up with food for his brothers and eventually goes out to fight and kill Goliath.  David’s ordinary, common journey suddenly turned into a powerful moment that propelled him to the throne as King.  He had already been anointed as King in chapter 16.  So he definitely knew the throne was the plan God had for him.  An ordinary moment.  A journey he had taken before.  People he was familiar with.  Turned out to be the particular period of time God used to thrust David forward into his destiny.     

    This old latin phase “Carpe Diem” translates to English as “seize the day”.  That’s exactly what David did in 1 Samuel 17.  He took that seemingly ordinary day and seized it.  He was ready to seize it.  If you believe like me that any moment could be a moment that moves you closer to your destiny or possibly be thee moment that moves you into your destiny, then the best way to respond to knowing God has great plans for you, is to take the common, insignificant moments of your life and live them with intensity and passion, believing that God may use any “particular time” to catapult you into the very plans he has for you.  When you have a goal, a dream, or a vision that God has placed in your heart, and you're moving toward it, every moment matters.  I am beginning to see that ordinary moments can become powerful catalysts for realized dreams.  I don't want to miss or prolong parts of my destiny because I didn't seize the moment.  The best part about it is that even if this “particular period of time” isn't what moves you closer to or into your destiny, you will still grow and be better because you lived with intensity and passion in that moment!  To me, that should always be our response.