Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, Episode Number 28 my name is Tracie Roll, and I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This months series is about understanding and receiving God’s love, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by a Bible Journaling Ministries titled a Father’s Love. You can learn more about Bible journaling with their free 10-day course at BibleJournalingMinistries.com today we’re exploring what it means to be known by God. In our verse is Jeremiah Chapter 1:5 and I’ll read out of the world English Bible. It says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you before you were born. I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations. I think this first is amazing. What an amazing God to know us before we even know ourselves.
It’s a great example of a God, our God that plans for us that has just excited for us and excited to see the things that we do in life. Today we are talking about that very thing that God knows you. God declared that even before it Jeremiah was conceived. He was known by God and set apart for his divine purposes as a prophet. Jeremiah would have had a difficult life. He would be threatened; he would be beaten. He’d be placed in prison and thrown into a muddy hole. Did the words that God provide to Jeremiah give him the strength to continue I think so. The other day I was talking to my physical therapist, and he mentioned that we needed to work on a few muscles and that I would be sore the next day. And he was prepping me because he knew he was going to dig down deep into those muscles.
And he always says, I do have a high tolerance for pain. But he always says that the people that he works on, they’re so sore. And even when he’s working on him, they like to tell him to stop. But I never tell him to stop, and he didn’t understand why because I’m boy, I just let him do his thing that he needs to do to work on my knee so I can get to walking better. And he asked me about it one day, and I said, where there’s pain, there’s an opportunity, proceed with your torture. And he laughed. So he thought that was the funniest thing because no one had ever seen. No one had ever told him that before. And I explained that you know, God has a plan for this. He has a plan for me, and I’m going to be at peace with the process.
So if we need a little bit of pain so that I can, you know, you can move that knee cap, or you can detach that scar tissue and let it move around a little bit more than proceed with your plan. And I will deal with that pain and God will be glorified because you watch, I’ll be walking better than you thought I was going to walk. I mean my, even now, I mean I can tell you, my physical therapist told me that I would never have a fully straightened knee. Um, my extension wouldn’t be fully straight in my banding. Um, I’ll be lucky if I can tie my shoe. That’s based on the images that they saw after my surgery. That’s what they measured out because when they did the surgery, the doctors would bend my knee and then they would straighten it, and they took a picture so that my physical therapist could kind of get an idea of where I was going to be.
And they said he would, you know, you’re not going to be able to do what you want to do. And I said, no, we’re just going to keep on working. We’re going to keep on keeping on. And I will tell you to this day; I’m still better than where they thought I was going to be. I actually can get to a fully extended leg, um, at almost zero degrees where they thought I would be at minus five. So even my bend, I can, I can put it over my other knee and tie my shoe. Now, if that is still painful for me and it will in, and we’re working through it, but they didn’t think that I was going to be above 110. They said, it’d be lucky if I got to be above 110 in terms of my fluxion and my knee, but we’ve surpassed all of those things.
And I point to God every time I walk in there, every time they say, you know, I ordered something from them the other day it was this massager so that I can massage some of the scar tissue in my leg. And, and they said, oh, we don’t think it’s going to come in, in time for you before you leave town. And I said, okay, you know, it’ll come, and God wants it to come. And Lo and behold, it came the Friday before I left town and they laughed at me because they knew exactly what I would say. And I always say, you know, God wanted me to have it before I left. So here it is. And they, they chuckle at it. But it’s true. So my point is that you know, God knows me and God knows you, and he has great plans for both of us.
Right. He has great plans for me. And I know he has great plans for you, and you can trust that his plan is for your good, even in your darkest moments, even in pain. And yeah, nobody wants to go through those dark times and nobody wants to, you know, I have pain in their bodies or lose someone that they love or have to go through another battle of the day. But, but God has plans. He will be glorified. And if you can take a moment in your dark times to think about like, is there any way I can give him glory in this today Is there any way, even through the pain that I can say, you know, thank you God for the opportunity to bring you glory today. I know it’s hard. I’ve been through it. I still do it. Sometimes I’m good at it.
Sometimes I can, you know, be great at pointing to God. And other times I want to cry on my bed. Like I’m not going to lie, but it’s something that I work on every time. Every time I’m going through something hard in my life, I always try to try to look at the bright side and say, you know, there’s going to be an opportunity at the end of this rough, rough road and God will be glorified. So thank you God for allowing me the chance to learn and to grow and do the things that you have planned for me. Cause you have great plans for me. So when the day isn’t going well, and you feel like you’re in that muddy sister and like just like Jeremiah or even when the birds are chirping, and you feel this beautiful sense of calm, God’s plan is being carried out.
You don’t have to like it. But I pray that knowing that God is in control brings you the piece that it does for me. So this week as you journal in your Bible Journal, think about what it means to you, that your father in heaven knows you and knew you before you were born to Think about father who plans and just is so excited that you’re going to be here in this world and has these beautiful plans waiting in store for you. So I hope that you will journal that this week. And if you’re here today and you believe that God doesn’t know you and that you’re, you’re here, and when you die, you’re going to die. And that’s the end of the thing, the end of the road. Um, I encourage you to think about the possibility that there is a god that knows you. And I hope that when you think about that possibility and you hear the love that I have for my father in heaven and how he has helped me throughout my whole life, and the joy and the love that, that I feel that is like no other, I hope that that encourages you to consider him.
And when you’re ready, pray to him and ask him to come into your heart. Help him. It’s like, I don’t know you, I don’t even know if you know me, but Lord, if you’re here, please come into my heart and show me that next step. And I pray that you pray that today so that he can show you the love that he has for you so that he can show you that the plans he has for you are so much better and greater than you’ve ever thought before. And if you’re here today and you know God, but sometimes huge straight, or that you’re just having a difficult time come back, there’s no time to go the other way. Life is so short. Don’t miss out on his great love because you’re angry at him or sad because something happens. You’re in your life. Come back to him, work through, I mean journal through some of the feelings that you’re having and talked to him. It’s okay if you’re upset. It’s okay that if life hasn’t gone the way you planned, ask God to show you what his plans are for you. And I hope that you feel the love of Christ every day. That’s your passes all understanding. I am so excited to talk to you next week. We were talking about how God carries you, and I think it’s going to be a great episode. So I hope that you’ll join us and I can’t wait to talk to you again in the Promises of God Podcast. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye.
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