Following His Plan

Mark 8 34-38: ........."If any of you wants to be my follower..... you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul? If a person is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels."

I just wanted to share a particular portion of Biblical Scripture with you this morning. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, these verses describe how you should be living your life and the benefits received.

Some people are told that if you become a follower of Christ, then the road ahead is easier and you will be happier in the days ahead. Well, this is true in a sense, but this doesn't mean that you will only experience the good things and not the bad. The truth is, that all people experience the good and the bad, but if you are a follower or Christ you have Christ to rely on in those bad times. Since becoming a believer in Christ my life has changed so much. It has taken me a direction I would have never thought about going before. My life took a drastic change when my husband told me we would be moving so far away from family and friends. I was excited about the aspect of experiencing a different culture and way of life, but at the same time was sad to be leaving family, friends and my own dreams and aspirations of being a nurse. Never in a million years did I dream that I would fall in love with the Egyptian people or feel at home so far away from what had been my home for a little over 30 years. God has given us a purpose in being in Egypt. Whether it has been working to help the unfortunate Sudanese kids that are there to obtain an education, or even working in our own son's school, helping the expat's kids adjust, grow and flourish in their new environment, it has been a very rewarding experience. In this world of materialism, greed, and self-fulfillment, this experience of living in a 3rd world country has really opened our eyes to see that we are so blessed and that we have so much. It took me a while to realize it, but I know that I am living a much more fulfilling life in following Christ's plan for my life instead of my own. All that I do I do for Him because I am what I am, and I have what I have because of Him.