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Cathy's DEVOTIONS

Ooo La La - DEVOTION 76 - 4 Oct 2010

I am a planner by nature. I live for the summer. It is a planner’s paradise. We celebrate 4 birthdays and from May until August I am thinking invitations, party food and party fun. The fall arrives and I slowly transition to planning lunches and planning schedules. I must admit it is not as fun as planning summer birthday parties and I struggle with the hectic nature of it all.A very busy week was brewing; I had several meetings, a visit to a far away client and a two-day conference out of state. I was having to plan my schedule with pinpoint precision. It was Tuesday morning and I was driving a long distance to a client meeting. I was listening to a preacher who had a perspective on planning I had never before heard. He said, we understand God’s plan for the beginning of time, in essence all the biblical truths that came before us. Likewise, through the Scripture, our imagination can grasp the truth of plans to come – paradise and perfection. But, as the preacher pondered, how much time do we devote to the Master’s plans for today. I will readily admit this challenged me a bit, but I prayed His plans included going with me to my meeting and I went about my day.Later that evening, I was sitting in an airplane ready for a two-hour flight. I am never excited about flying but I was excited about a new book a friend gifted me. To date, I had only read the title, “For a Hope and a Future”; it appeared to be a fascinating testimony. I grabbed the book and read the caption on the back, it read Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” I thought about the preacher from my morning drive – “plans”, that was the second time I had heard that word today. I could recite the scripture, especially the part about prospering me, but for the first time the words “I know” stood out. I remember thinking, I wish I knew His plans.The first 14 chapters of the book were incredibly hard. I love a good redemption story; a wayward child coming back to the Master, but this was not that type of story. I can say with every assurance, had I been at home, I would have bookmarked the story and set it on the shelf, the read was that hard. This precious lady was not a wayward daughter returning to the Father, she was a little girl without an earthly father or mother who began in a valley and steadily sunk deeper. I had never read such an intricate description of abandonment, isolation, and heart wrenching desperation. Finally chapter 15, redemption, and the story became completely amazing. The author’s words were now full of hope and promise. The victim had become the conqueror. She fell in love with the Master and with the Word. It became her source. She recounts finding Jeremiah 29:11 and it became her anthem. Strangely, she didn’t comment on the first two words, “I know”, but rather on the last, a “hope and a future.” It was not lost on me that this woman with a sixth-grade education seemed to have a far deeper comprehension of this scripture. I promised to revisit this but I had reached the last page of this powerful book, and the plane was landing. A whirlwind of 36 hours later and I was back at the same airport. I was uncharacteristically early and decided to treat myself to some shopping. I had promised the kids some souvenirs and I needed a new book, afterall I had finished the one I had brought. First, I stopped at the ticket counter to see if there was an earlier flight. “Only one to Chicago,” the very nice agent said, and I was on it. She was so accommodating I decided to ask for my boarding pass as well. I remember thinking how much friendlier this system was than the computerized system I have used for the last several years. I found my way to security and the lines were long, very long. I decided to take my chances that the lines would minimize while I looked at the shops. I needed three souvenirs and I quickly accomplished my purpose. I cued up in the snake like line through security. I am not sure exactly how long I waited but when I was four or so people away I grabbed for my boarding pass and my license. I happened to glance at my seat assignment and noticed I was now the proud owner of Shawn Hill’s boarding pass. I questioned for a minute whether this would be a problem and then developed my plan. Instead of winding my way back through 150 people, I bent over, luggage in hand, in my nice meeting dress and crawled under the security tethers. It was less than lady-like but I made it back to the ticket desk. My friend behind the desk was now gone and the gentleman that helped did not seem concerned I had been renamed or that I had spent 45 minutes waiting in a line as Shawn Hill. I was back in security behind a new set of 150 people but happy to officially be Cathy Hill. After the hubbub of a name change, the extra time I had had now melted away. I was grateful I had accomplished my souvenir shopping and now stood at my gate trying to figure out if my shopping bag, which was now my third carry on, could fit in either of my two bags. It seemed impossible without deboxing all the nice new things and I decided to take my chances. My thoughts returned to purchasing a book. I quickly walked through a kiosk near the gate but there seemed to be no Christian section and nothing on the Best-Seller list caught my eye. I decided sleep might be an option; I was weary from my meetings and it was time to board. I was well back in the plane and we were all stationary as a woman a few seats up was trying to cram her carry on into the overhead compartment. I said a little thank you prayer that I had not put my souvenirs in my bag as but for the grace of God, that would be me. She finally gave up and relinquished her bag to the flight attendant and soon I was seated. I then caught sight of another woman in the same precarious spot. She was pushing and pulling her bag, but this lady was quite different, she was holding shoes. I couldn’t quite figure that out until the flight attendant loudly announced, “if your bag does not fit in the overhead compartment, you must take something out, or relinquish the bag.” AHHH, I thought, shoes were a good strategy. Then, the unthinkable happened….Evidently, this woman had removed her shoes, but left her bag unzipped. Suddenly, items out of her bag were airborne and falling on the gentleman below her. The 5 or so rows that could see this occur all took a collective gasp. It was underwear, not just any underwear, but fancy underwear, my mom would call this “lingerie”. I wondered if I would be reading about this online in the morning, “the underwear incident on Chicago bound flight ….” It seemed like more than seconds as we waited for this man to react and for this poor woman watching him to catch her breath. Finally, the man uttered the only reaction he could muster, “OOO LA LA,” he said, and all of us laughed, and breathed a sigh of relief. Well, except for the owner of the open bag, she grabbed her shoes; her mentioned unmentionables and headed for the back of the plane. I remember my reaction to this woman. As she passed I thought surely that episode was not her plan for the day. I grabbed my book. I flipped through noting all the bold scriptures. I was looking again for Jeremiah 29:11. I carefully reviewed all the bolded words but then found some bold words not found in scripture. The author had been saved now for some years and she was listening to a radio preacher, much like I had been Tuesday morning. She quoted the preacher’s words, “God has never failed anyone in the past, and He won’t start with you.” Somehow the name Cathy didn’t appear on the page, but I knew these words bolded on this page had been written for me. I heard Him whisper, “trust me with your plans.” Oh Beloved, we live in a world of micro management and information overload. We are asked to be accountable for every minute of our day with every piece of information we can stuff in our heads. But the truth is some things are to be left in the Master’s hands, in the Master’s time, to be revealed to us as He allows. I pray to Him every day, multiple times a day, but do I give Him my day, my plans, my hopes, or do I ask for His blessing on my own. Dear Sister, He KNOWS those plans, the Creator and Master of this universe created those plans to give us Hope. I realized right then why I hadn’t had time to find a book, why for a moment in time I needed to be Shawn Hill. I needed to find my way back to the author of my plans and the finisher of my future. He has never and will never fail me and I thanked Him for that. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Devotions by Cathy Hill

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