Final thoughts

If we feel we have missed God's will for us at any point, we mustn't think that is the end of our usefulness to him. Alexander Whyte once described the "perseverance of the saints" as falling down and getting up, falling down and getting up, falling down and getting up, all the way to heaven! God specialises in using even our faults and failings to mould us and make us into the sort of people he can do something with. If we love him, and it is our desire to do his will, we can be sure he can make something of us that will bring glory to him. Someone has said, "Our God is a God of a thousand options." However, we have only one life to live. Let us offer it to him. The life that counts for eternity is the life that is centred in the will of God.

On August 23, 1864, Abraham Lincoln wrote a resolution on a piece of paper which he folded and asked his cabinet to endorse with their signatures without reading. They did so, committing themselves blindly to whatever he had resolved. If our trust in God allows us to make that sort of commitment to him as regards our future, we may well find it is the beginning of a great adventure that will, despite its difficulties, be deeply satisfying. The final outcome is guaranteed. This God is worthy of our trust.