God’s Plan
by Sara Rivas
Good morning, boys and girls. Happy Sabbath. I am excited to share something that I read in my devotional this week, and it really encouraged me. So I’m hoping that it also encourages you.
I read chapter 28 of Genesis. Just so you know, the background story, this is the story of Jacob and Esau. These are the twins that have been fighting since they were in their mommy’s tummy, and they’re now adults. and their dad is ready to give a blessing. Jacob lies to his dad and pretends to be Esau so that he can get the blessing that he knew God had for him. He has this blessing, but now his brother is really mad at him, and so now he’s trying to run away. And he’s traveling, and he’s all alone. And he probably, he definitely does not feel that God cares about him. He doesn’t. even know God personally. So when he talks to his dad, he says, oh, “your God”, and instead of saying, “my God”.
And so he’s pretty lonely. He’s in the middle of nowhere, trying to get to his uncle’s house, trying to run away. And while he’s there, he has this vision in his dream of the stairs and angels going up and down the stairs. And at the very top, God is there and God is talking to him personally.
And so I’m gonna pause there and I’m gonna let you know what’s happening, a little bit about what’s happening in our lives so that you can understand why that was so important to me. So in 2019, got impressed on Eddie’s heart that he should open, that we should open a private practice to provide speech therapy. We have been school-based speech therapist for over 10 years. So it was a big change. It was, you know, it was very, there’s a lot of uncertainty with opening your own private practice because you don’t know, you know, when you’re gonna have money or if you’re gonna have money or you know, if your plans are gonna work out well. And the school based job, even though it is very stressful, it does have a constant steady flow of money coming in.
And so I definitely wasn’t part of, woohoo, let’s open a private practice when Eddie first told me that. Well, you can do it. You can try it and see how it goes. He just kept telling me, but I feel like God is leading me. I feel like God has told me I need to do it. So we said, okay, we’re just gonna take, you know, first step and if God opens the door, then we’re good. So in 2019, we applied, found out in 2022 that all of our paperwork was lost. And so then we reapplied and then in May, 2023, we opened our doors as our own company.
And God blessed us, blessed us richly and just made really the impossible possible. And it just, it felt so good. And it was very exciting knowing that we felt that God had called us to do something and we did it. And we were being blessed by it. And then everything was going well and then things take a turn and we weren’t doing so well anymore. And so that’s the point we’re questioning, like, huh, am I doing the right thing? Is this really what God wanted? We also decided to venture into opening our own private clinic and we’ve been hitting a lot of bumps along the road. And luckily this week we were finally told that the place that we had already leased, we will be able to use. But I’m kind of feeling a lot, like with all the ups and downs that this has brought us through, I’m kind of feeling a lot like Jacob. I’m feeling alone sometimes. I’m feeling in the dark sometimes because I’m feeling like, you know, Jesus, you brought me here, but why are things going not, why aren’t things going well? Like this was your plan. What is happening?
One of the things that was really helpful, so back to Jacob’s story. And one of the things that was really helpful was that God talked to Jacob. And he knew, God knew that he had proclaimed him as his own God, but he told him, I’m gonna give you these blessings that I promised your father and your grandfather, which are land, descendants, and you will be a blessing to the world. And yes, God had a big plan. God really wanted. The plan was eventually to send Jesus through His, which would be one of His descendants, to the world, to save the world. There was a big plan that God already had in place, but He still cares about us personally. So He made it a point to show up and to talk to Jacob. And what He told Jacob was so. soothing and calming for me. So he said, I am with you and I will watch over you.
When you’re trying something new and you’re feeling a little scared and you’re feeling like this is probably not, I don’t have the same certainty or the same, you know, or maybe if it’s just you’re learning new rhyming words and you’re getting stuck with it or maybe you’re learning multiplication and it seems like impossible to memorize all of those multiplication facts. Know that God is with you and that he will always watch over you.
All right, let’s say a quick prayer. Thank you, Jesus, for always being with us, for loving us and for caring about each of our problems. Even when they’re small, you still love us and you still care. You always want to watch over us and provide for us. We love you so much for that opportunity that we have to come to you and that we have to read your Bible and just to feel encouraged. We love you so much. Please be with us this day. In your sweet name we pray, amen.