by Mary C Neal
It was dark and raining when we left so I offered him a ride. I explained I wasn’t familiar with the area, so he’d have to give me directions. After a few turns, he said he would get out there, and I slowed to a stop. Curiously, there were empty parking lots around, but no houses or buildings nearby. The car door did not open, but he was gone. He was nowhere around—just vanished. To this day I wonder if we met an angel—nothing else makes sense.
—PAUL, LEXINGTON, KY
THEY WALK AMONG US
Neither I, nor the people who resuscitated me, doubt that God was present on the river that day. We believe that for reasons known only to Him, God chose to reach across the curtain to intervene. To this day, I feel awed and deeply humbled that I was ministered to by angels. And I know that I am among countless others who have either witnessed the appearance of angels or received their protection unknowingly.
I’m grateful that God was near, loving and active on our behalf that day, but I live differently knowing that angels walk among us. You can, too.
God cares. God is here. And his powerful emissaries are here, too, ready at a moment’s notice to accomplish the work of divine love in our midst.
Chapter 10
GOD HAS A PLAN
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
—CORRIE TEN BOOM
If you were asked to name the most popular verse in the Bible, which one would come to mind first?
Go ahead. Take the test.
If your answer is John 3:16, everyone’s Sunday school favorite, you’d be right…but only half the time. You see, yearly reviews of online searches show that another, much lesser-known verse just as often ranks number one. It’s 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 hope and a future.’ ”
I find this little fact revealing because it shows what people most want to know and remember about God’s intentions toward us. In John’s gospel, I learn that God loves me. In Jeremiah, it’s that God has a plan for me. Both are exceptionally good news.
That God has a plan for you and me—one that is full of hope, purpose, and beauty—changes everything. Do you see why? It recalculates our worth. It calms our anxious minds. It invites us to believe and act on the fact that we matter—infinitely—to the one who made us. It reassures us that no matter what heartache we might be feeling today, our future is in good hands!
Especially after my kayaking accident and the spiritual experience that followed, I leaned heavily on Jeremiah 29:11. In the months and years afterward, I struggled to find the courage to follow God’s plan related to my NDE. I knew that what had happened was more than just my story—it was my story to share. For me, that was the hardest part. That’s where Jeremiah 29:11 came in. It reassured me that God’s plan for me was personal, intended for my blessing, and full of hope…and that made all the difference.
It’s not hard to understand why Jeremiah’s message continues to resonate so strongly. We’re all trying to find our way in a chaotic world of war, deprivation, disease, and injustice. In our personal lives, most of us face painful losses that just don’t make sense. Oh, how much our hearts long for comfort, for clarity, for reassurance that God does love us and that he’s still in charge!
In the preceding chapters I’ve told you how my NDE opened up my understandings of God’s plan as it relates to death and dying, angels and miracles. For the rest of this book, everything you read will try to answer the question, “But so what?” What could my story about the realities of the supernatural all around us actually change in your life?
In this chapter, we’ll look at a question we face many times during our life: If God does have a plan for me in all this mess, what is it and how can I find it?
MAKING GOD’S PROMISES PERSONAL
What I love the most about Jeremiah 29:11 is that it not only portrays the heart of God toward humanity, but it clearly portrays the heart of God toward me, individually. These are His plans for me. This is His desire for my life. And of course the same is true for you. God longs for each of us to live with hope and joy.
But is that too good to be true? At first, I found myself wondering if I might be stealing someone else’s promise. Here’s what I mean: As beloved as these words from God are for Bible lovers, some theologians warn against applying them to our own life. Some point out that the conversation God is having with the prophet Jeremiah is specifically about and for the exiled people of Judah. Others warn against believing God has a personal plan for each of us.
I invite you to work through this objection carefully with me. If you do, I think you’ll see as I did why those opinions don’t add up.
Bible verses are our most trusted source of understanding God’s nature, His desires, and His expectations for us. We routinely personalize the words, actions, parables, and stories of the Bible as we look for guidance and direction in our thoughts and actions. Why? Because if biblical promises speak to God’s nature, then they are not limited to a specific time, place, or person. If we are God’s beloved children and biblical promises reflect God’s nature, then it only makes sense to apply biblical promises to our own lives. When God reveals Himself and His nature to one person, He does so for all people, and forever. Times change, but God doesn’t. That’s why I believe we can bring our own experiences, fears, and hopes to scripture with the expectation that we, too, will meet God in the now. Doing just that has kept Scripture relevant, applicable, and meaningful to every generation.
So many examples come to mind. Take Psalm 23, another top-ten choice among scripture favorites. We could all agree that David is really speaking about himself in these passages because he uses the first-person pronoun when he writes:
“The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul….
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Should the truths revealed in David’s lovely poem stay locked in the past? Of course not. He never mentioned me, or you, or anyone else, but throughout the twenty-five centuries since David first wrote those words, these truths have continued to be available for all those who are facing persecution, abandonment, war, and disease. They have continued to offer comfort for people facing a rocky relationship, a bad day at the office, or any one of a myriad of struggles. Generations of believers have agreed that David’s declarations are not limited to person or place, but reflect the nature of our unchanging God. With deep gratitude, I can claim these words for myself and my life, as can each of you.
Or consider New Testament letters that were written to specific groups of people. For example, Paul’s encouragement to a church in Greece: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7). Or those he wrote to believers in what is modern-day Turkey: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Think how the life-changing truths captured in these verses have brought light and hope to people throughout the world in the many centuries since they were actually written!
Another of today’s most popular Bible verses is Joshua 1:9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Although these words were spoken directly to Joshua after the death of Moses, they remain true in every single detail. Why shouldn’t we claim this promise of God’s presence for ourselves today?
Even the Ten Commandments given to Moses begin with the personal pronoun “you.” In Deuteronomy 5, Moses
clearly states that the Lord’s covenant was not with the ancestors of Israel, but specifically with those who were alive and present on the day Moses addressed them.
Not one of us was present on that day to hear Moses’s words, and most Christians cannot claim to be Philippians, Ephesians, or even Israelites. But the Spirit invites us in each moment, as it has for millennia, to open the pages of scripture to hear truth for ourselves today. The teachings, stories, parables, and the love of God we find there speak to all of us. They are more than situational; they are universal and timeless.
That’s why I can say with confidence that God’s words apply to all of His people in all eras when He declares, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
HOW TO DISCERN GOD’S PLAN
But if God has a great plan for us, how can we know what it is? Many have told me they’re not sure how to know if God is calling, or where He is leading. I get it. After all, we don’t get a full set of customized instructions in the mail.
Fortunately, all of us can find out what a truly faithful and God-centered life looks like through the teachings of scripture and the natural law we see at work in creation. In the lives of Jesus and so many of the saints, we are blessed with inspiring examples of the kind of life we’re called to live.
Still, we often feel confused when we come to the crossroads of facing decisions, large or small. Especially at those times, we desire to know what God’s will for us actually is, and we long for Him to take our hand and lead us in the right direction. Christian singer and songwriters Regi Stone and Christy Sutherland perfectly captured this sentiment when they wrote the song “Be Everything”:
“I will follow you wherever you lead.
If I lose sight of the path,
be the road that takes me back.”
You might wonder more specifically, however, what this sort of leading might look like in daily life. While it can certainly be different for different people, let me walk you through this process as it works best in my life.
For me, the first step in discerning God’s plan is to constantly listen with an open heart. Even when I think I am going in the right direction and doing what God would have me be doing, I constantly try to sense where the Holy Spirit is leading. I pay attention to intuition and strong feelings of prompting or revelation. Sometimes this prompting is more of a quiet whisper deep inside, although other times it can come through a dream or vision, as it has for so many people throughout the generations. I consider this stage as being one of active waiting; it begins with my asking for God’s direction, listening for His leading, and continually evaluating my circumstances. When doors close, I look for windows that open, remembering that prompting from God will always be consistent with biblical teaching, and almost always involve service.
I always try to notice opportunities that arise, especially ones that unexpectedly grab my interest or do so more than once, particularly if it happens in different settings. When my attention is drawn to an opportunity, I ask myself whether it is merely piquing my curiosity, or whether it might be a prompting from God. If it’s just my curiosity at work, the opportunity tends to be quickly forgotten. If an opportunity continues to tickle my thoughts, I give it more attention. I look for whether the details of an opportunity begin to easily fall into place, seeming to pave the path before me. Like others, I find that when I am going in the right direction, God straightens the path. When we are going in our own direction, the path is more likely to feel convoluted and filled with struggle.
I also question whether an opportunity might test my status quo, since God’s plans often challenge our feelings of comfort and contentment. By challenging our comfort zone, the journey almost always leads to personal growth, greater love, service to others, and a future that is often better than what we might have imagined for ourselves.
I ask whether I feel an inner nudge or prompt. For more context here, take another look at the sections in Chapter 8 where we look at how God uses spiritual prompts, or even a brush with an angel, to give us direction. God has so many ways to move us along his path.
Most of the time, the feeling of being prompted fades away, but often the prompt becomes obvious, and God’s plan becomes clear—not the whole plan, but the direction in which I should go. I then take a step forward in faith, all the while looking for confirmation that I trust will come along the path. I know that if I am actively walking the line of God’s path for me, I am likely to find evidence that He is there with me, making things happen and pointing the way forward.
A pastor told me recently he had been offered a job position in a faraway town where he always wanted to live. He felt the time was right and thought this was a prompting of the Holy Spirit, but he sought confirmation. He paused and looked for God’s signposts. Several days later, his wife mentioned, unprompted, that she would be open to moving. In fact, she told him she would not be opposed to moving to the very city where he had been offered a job. In her willingness, he saw a signpost of confirmation. They tentatively put their house on the market and, as further confirmation, received a full-price offer for their home on the first day by the first prospective buyer.
If no confirmation is forthcoming, the direction may need to change. It is like playing the game of “Hot and Cold”: After the giver hides a gift, the recipient begins walking in their chosen direction. The giver then declares that the recipient is hot, cold, hotter, or colder depending on whether or not their path will lead to the hidden gift.
Sometimes the confirmation may come after the fact. This year when I was in Chile kayaking, I felt a nudge to paddle again on the Fuy River. I immediately wanted to disregard the nudge, as I had for many previous years. After all, this was the river where I drowned, and although the experience was one of God’s greatest gifts to me, I didn’t intend to repeat it. It helped that we would be kayaking downstream from where I had been so many years earlier, but it was the same river. I had never wanted to return to this river yet as I prayed, I was surprised to feel a growing sense of peace and confidence that the time had come to return.
The appointed day arrived, and I was extremely focused and alert as I paddled through the rapids. Despite believing that I was in the right place, it was a very emotionally intense experience for me. But with each paddle stroke I experienced an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the gift of it all. I even heard Chad, paddling nearby, humming “Amazing Grace.” By the time I reached the end of the rapids, all I could do was cry.
When I returned to the house, I told my good friend about my experience and she told me hers. Instead of going on the river with us that morning, she had gone to Mass. Knowing the significance of my plans for the day, she decided to pray for me, and as she prayed, she heard a voice clearly say, “I was with her then, and I am with her now.”
Once an opportunity, direction, action, or feeling catches my attention, I question whether it is a reflection of my own desires, or whether it could be a prompting of the Holy Spirit. I ruminate on whether it is actually a signpost of God’s desire and plan for my life, or if it is just something I want to do. I step back to ask whether the prompting is meant for me, or might be intended for someone else.
On this point, don’t worry what some spiritually high-minded folks might tell you. Thoughtful reflection isn’t the same thing as a lack of faith or unwillingness to follow God’s leading. It’s simple prudence. It’s you doing your part while God does His.
Jesus encouraged us to carefully evaluate situations and plans when he said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit….Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:15–20). And Paul advised believers to test our thoughts in order to discern the will of God and know what is good and
acceptable (Romans 12:2).
As a sort of quality checklist, I always ask myself the following questions before embarking on something new or different that I think might be a prompting from the Holy Spirit:
• Does it lead to a greater focus on God?
• Does it glorify God or man?
• Does it inspire and benefit others? (Even God’s most individualized plans almost always involve our serving and reflecting His love to others.)
• Does the experience lead to greater love?
• Does it encourage, challenge, and develop my spiritual life, or that of others?
• Does it further develop fruits of the Spirit in me, or others?
By the way, this checklist helps when you’re trying to assess the words, motives, and actions of other people, too. For example, when I hear stories of spiritual encounters or experiences, I always ask these questions. I look for the fruit of the story and see if it points back to God. While most people are honest and forthright, I am a skeptic by nature and am not so naive as to believe everything that people say or write.
EMBRACING THE HEART OF GOD WITH OUR “YES”
Thankfully, we never need to fret about what we don’t know. Our divine invitation is simply to stay awake and act on what we do know. After all, every insight presents a choice: Will I act on what I now know to be true, or won’t I? Believing that God’s plan for me is good, and filled with hope, doesn’t change much about my life if I don’t say yes to it!
THE SIXTH LESSON THAT HEAVEN REVEALS
God has a plan for each of us—full of hope, purpose, and beauty—and He wants us to discover it.
