Josh Samarco

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, nevertheless it is the Lord’s purpose that will prevail.”

 Proverbs 19:21

I’ll never forget the first time I stumbled across this Scripture. Talk about a Mike Tyson knock out blow! For 20 + years of my life I was trying to figure out my plans. God saved me at the age of 17. The odd thing about living for God at a young age was my life was in God’s hands but my plans were not. I know this sounds a bit confusing but what I mean is, I was totally committed to living for Him and serving Him with all of my heart but I still had an agenda for my life. I knew what I wanted to do and I figured that’s the way everything would go. I can hear a voice in my head saying, “not so!”

At a young age I knew I had a calling on my life to do God’s work. Even in my sinful lifestyle before Christ, on my worst days and in my troublesome teenage years, each day and night God was on my mind. I could not shake Him. I tried to run, I tried to give up, I tried to forget who He was, I tried to not read my Bible and go to church, I tried and I tried and I tired to stay away from surrendering my life to God. I remember asking God, “Why me? Out of all of my friends and family members, why do I have to give up my life to come and live for you?”

But there was a calling on my life to live for Him. From the age of 11 to the age of 17 I wrestled with God. I’m not talking about WWE wrestling. I’m talking about hard core street fighting type of wrestling. I argued, I complained, I made excuses, I whined, I lied, I yelled, I cried, I fought, I cried, I dreamed, I cried and eventually I could not take the burden anymore. I couldn’t continue to run. I couldn’t continue to fight. I came to a point where I said, “God, You win. My life is Yours. I tried doing it my way and it is getting me no where. Please forgive me and accept me as your child.” At the age of 17, I found myself pouring my heart out to God and laying down my life to follow after Him.

It was during college, where I ran into this Scripture. “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, nevertheless is is the Lord’s purpose that will prevail.” What a great time to run across it! The college years, the young adult years is a time where people are trying to figure out life, the future and plans. That was me. Chasing the dream of playing basketball for as long as I could. Education and even God’s plans for my life were secondary. It was basketball or nothing else. Whenever something comes in front of God and before Him, this is labeled as an idol. That my friend is a problem when you are in a relationship with God.

What I had to learn was; as a follower of Christ the best thing to do is lay down our idols. It’s not an easy thing to do. Idols can be strongholds. They can have control over our minds. Trying to find your purpose with God and trying to chase your dreams: Talk about a headache, confusion and late night conversations. The constant conversations is what made everything make sense. One thing about God is, He does listen. The problem is, we don’t give God enough time to respond.

When giving God your plans, a person has to allow God time to respond. You will never know what direction to go in, what to let go, who to let go if you do not allow God to speak. Does God speak? Of course He does. God speaks in many ways: Prayer, the Bible, through people, through worship, meditation, a sermon, life experiences, dreams, books, etc…

We have to open our eyes, ears, hearts, spirit and soul to the God that created us. He has plans for our life. If you believe in Him, God will bless those plans and set the path for you to take. I encourage you to not try to figure out your path of life on your own. Get in tune with God. He will help you. He will speak. He will give you direction.