Joel Osteen Daily Devotional December 16 2021

Proverbs 16:9, NLT

We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.

God doesn’t always take us in a straight line. We make our plans going from A to B to C. But sometimes He’ll take you from A to B, then to R, then back to D, then to S. Sometimes it’s going to look like you’re going backward. You have to trust Him when you don’t understand. You have to know that God makes the final determination about your steps. If He allows a sickness or a loss, it’s because it’s necessary to move you into your purpose. The test is for you to stay in faith, believing that God is still in control, that He’s working behind the scenes, that what He started He will finish.

Some of the challenges you’re facing now don’t even have anything to do with today; they’re positioning you for something in your future. If you stay in faith when things don’t make sense, over time you’re going to see how God connects the dots, how it was all a part of His plan, strategically orchestrated.

Father, thank You that when things don’t go according to my plans, I can know that You are working behind the scenes and in charge of my steps. Thank You that You love me too much to leave me on my own. I believe that You are strategically orchestrating and connecting the dots of my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.