There are times in your life when you look around and see that you are in a different place than you were before. Sometimes you even see that your current position is not where you thought you would have been. Where are you going and who is going with you? Are you in the same place where others around you expected you to be? What about your peers? Are they on the same train with you? Let us look at the path or the “track” that you are on and see how God has served as your “train conductor” from the very beginning.
Join with me as I envision boarding a train with my family. We all anticipate arriving at the same destination, at the same time. We realize that we are not alone on the train as others have boarded the train with us and we anticipate a safe arrival. Now, what happens if each of my family members settle in to different locations on the train? My youngest is at the front of the train, my eldest daughter is at the back of the train and my husband and I are in a sleeping section of the train. Do we all arrive at our destination at the same time, with the same experiences?
My husband and I are still newlyweds after four years of marriage. February is the five-year anniversary of our first meeting and this is a special time for us. When Bartee and I first met, he was not TRYING to look at me, and I wasn’t TRYING to talk to him! God, however had other plans for us and set our trains on the same track. We met, dated and married within six months and our true love story is now in book form. Purchase your copy at www.LaderoPress.com and search for it on https://www.facebook.com/InTheBeginningThereWasGodMeAndYou/
Bartee was on one train, I was on another and now we are on the same train together! Look at God!
Let’s get back to that train trip with the family. As my eldest daughter sits on the back of the train snapping videos of the scenery, my youngest is learning about life as a conductor. She learned how a train is maintained and asked how a person learns to drive a train. My husband and I are enjoying the sleeper car as honeymooner’s #NoSleepRequired and we have a “Do Not Disturb” tag on the doorknob. This trip generally becomes a career introduction for my baby girl, while it is a spiritual engagement for my eldest daughter! Same train, different parts of the track and different experiences for us all.
Do we arrive at our destination at the same time? Yes, we do, yet we never anticipated the results of our trip. I never dreamed to be happily married at this time in my life. My children’s father and I divorced when our daughters were toddlers. Years later, their stepfather became abusive and we escaped to domestic violence shelters and homelessness. Men were not on my mind and the train that I intended to travel on was to have been testosterone free.
God put me on a different train track.
Bartee was enjoying life as a bachelor, after divorce. He was not attracted to women with “fuller figures”. He proclaimed that he was “GOOD BEING SINGLE”. Re-marriage was not in his vocabulary and my loveliness did not initially catch his eye.
God put Bartee on a different train track.
Parent’s raise their children either with the aid of family, or alone. Either parents apply what they learned from their parent’s, or they choose to apply a new parenting technique in an effort to show independence. Some parents started on the track their parent’s put them on, but once their relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ manifests into their lives, their destination changes!
Look at the friends and associates that have entered our lives recently. Have they invited you or encouraged you to go somewhere you have never been before? Have you asked, “Lord, is this relationship track that YOU want me to travel on?” Are you experiencing the same lessons that your peers are experiencing as you are traveling this route? A person can experience growth when you can see where you have been, and can embrace where you are going.
The law that we should follow is the plan that God has for our life. If you don’t yet know what that plan is, stay close to an elder that can help guide you and accompany you during this time. Stay on the train and the track that God is conducting, and watch your life open up for new joys and experiences! Learn to be content on the train that you are traveling on with God. You can experience education, revelation and love on the train with God. You can be on the same train and see different parts of the track when God is your conductor, and be at peace with it! God’s train will not fly off the track when you are on it. God’s train will not crash into despair during your trip. Follow God’s destination plan for your life, get on HIS train and nothing will make you fall.
Psalm 199: 165
Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.
I am honored to serve on the Board of Directors of Sword of the Spirit Ministries Florida, Inc. This newly-formed non-profit organization empowers single parents and their children spiritually, physically and financially, and shares the love of Christ through monthly workshops. The founder of this organization boarded the same train with me as a member of “The TOUR that Angie BEE Presents” several years ago and launched this non-profit as a result of different experiences while on her life travels. God’s plan for her life is that she is now helping enlarge the territories of others! Same train (ministry and outreach), different parts of the track (The TOUR that Angie BEE Presents is an evangelism troupe, Sword of the Spirit Ministries Florida, Inc. is a non-profit organization). Same destination (serving the Lord with gladness), different experiences during the journey. Same scripture, different interpretation and implementation. Same God, indescribable love! http://spfsonscreen.org/
Stay on the train that God has placed you on. It may not be the destination that your “friends” are leading you to, or it may not be the way your parent’s expected you to go but serve God and dedicate your life to Him. Your rewards along with way will be more than you could ask for or even imagine. Enjoy the journey!
© 2018 Copyrighted Material Tamara McCarthy Enterprises used with permission Evangelist Angie Bee (Spiritual Sundays)
tamaramccarthyenterprises.com 