His Plan: My Path

My birthday in Bethlehem….AGAIN! Two years ago I was blessed to be in the place of Jesus’ birth on my birthday hear God tell me "Happy Birthday Elizabeth, Welcome home." I thought that day was a once in a lifetime gift, but like always God’s plan is always greater than my own. I was planning on settling down in Hawaii for a bit but that day changed the trajectory of my life. Well what I thought was going to be of my life, He's always known that that's not where I was staying.

In this life we hear a lot about settling. Settling for a job that pays the bills. Settling for a partner that isn’t who you want but is good enough. Settling for a life that you didn’t want but kind of happened. The thing is though you can never “settle” for God’s plan for your life. He allows you to settle for distractions. He allows you to settle for your own plan. He allows you to walk away from the gifts He has for you. He allows all this because He loves you and wants you to freely choose to love Him in return. His plan, though not void of suffering, is more beautiful than the one we plan on our own.  I know from experience that settling for what you want over what He has may give a temporary pleasure or satisfies just enough to stay there, but it doesn’t fill us like He can. While reflecting on my upcoming birthday, I thought of all the gifts God gave me this past year. It may not have been easy but I was immensely blessed and I wanted to share the celebration with life with you. I asked God how to start and instead he brought me years into the past. He put in my heart the scene of a breakup that wrecked me. I knew this scene well because I lived it over and over in my head but the line that in the past made me feel invisible, actually was a grace God gave my ex, to see a glimpse of the future He had planned for me. 

When he broke up with me, his final reason was “You are meant to change the world”. In my heart, I didn't want to change the world, I only wanted to change his world. How could he not see it? I’ve made up a million excuses for his reasoning behind those words but never once had I thought of God touching his heart with that phrase. Maybe God spoke to him that night and told him that He had greater plans for me than I had for myself.  Nearly 7 years later I am doing what he said I would do, changing the world.

 Through my service here in Bethlehem, I’ve touched the hearts of people all over the world. I’ve met countless volunteers, pilgrims, religious and locals, who all bear witness to my living testament of God’s love. We don’t need a big following or to be “trending” to change the world. Everyone we come in contact with is a meeting orchestrated by God, and even the simplicity of a smile can change someone’s life. Add up all your interactions, spoken and unspoken and you can see what an impact you can make. 

 To be honest I came to serve God here quietly but He had other plans. He gives me a voice for not only the people I serve but more importantly for His glory. I cannot take Him out of my story here. He called me. He guides me. I constantly see Him in the faces of those I work with, especially the children. I also see His use of my body to comfort, heal and love those that I am surrounded by. I cannot even love another without Him coming to the forefront of my mind, because He is the one who taught me what love is.   I cannot take Him out of my story, like I cannot drain the blood out of my body and still have life within me. 

I know in my heart His plan will always be greater than the one I have because He knows me better than I know myself. He created me and continues to put the breath of life within me for a purpose. The purpose for which you and I were created is to glorify God. Any other purpose including vocation is meaningless if we forget this. I want to glorify Him through married life but while I wait for His timing I have to glorify Him in the present. That being said, sometimes it is easier said than done because you all know how much I want to start a family of my own. I’ve been reinforcing the lie that my life here in Bethlehem is like a “pause” in my real life because it would take a miracle for a man to find me before my life could “begin”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m praying for that miracle, but I know it will be in His timing and not mine.

God constantly reassures me that this is His plan and His timing for my life, and all I need to do is to trust. It’s like He’s hidden me away to not only prepare me for my living future but for eternity. I’m learning to glorify Him, through joy and sorrow: through pain and rejoicing: through loneliness and being seen. I’m learning to glorify him in all days and circumstances because I am not promised tomorrow. We are not promised tomorrow. We only have this moment so with this one breath I will use it to sing His praise. I want to end in gratitude not only for my life but for the lives who have touched mine. 

I want to first, thank you God for the life you gave me for the past 28 years and I look forward to every moment to come. My life was not what I planned but your beauty and love far surpasses anything I could dream for myself.

I want to thank my parents for your participation in God’s plan for me. God used you to give me life and give me the foundation of my faith. You put it best mom, when I told you I was leaving the United States to go volunteer, “He gave us you to borrow for a little bit, but you were always His”. I know I’m grown and I can make my own life choices, including staying in a war zone, but… Jesus made me do it. 

I want to thank the rest of my family and friends for your love and prayers. I know each of you helped shape me into the woman I am today and I kind of like her.

I want to thank my family here in Bethlehem as well. This includes all the religious, volunteers (past and present), those that work with Hogar, those who are part of my daily life outside of the home and of course all my children. Through you, I’ve learned a different way to love and be loved. 

I could go on and on for what I am thankful for in each and every one of you but for time’s sake, I’ll stop. Ooo one last mention. For all those of you who prayed the novena to the Holy Family with me, wow. I had the idea to pray alone, but God called me to ask you to join. I know for each person who joined God had something specific for YOU in those prayers, or the fruits of those prayers. I love you all and I continue to pray for you and I hope you do for me. May we glorify God by our lives at this moment, because that is all we have.

Agape,

Elizabeth

PS. Sorry but pictures did not want to load this time.