God’s Plans for Our Lives

Catherine De Valence looks back and forward over her own life and sees how God was at work all along.

I was born on the island of Mauritius where life was simple. Although we lived on an island where there was a great mixture of different religions and cultures: Muslims, Hindus, Christians through Chinese, Indians, Creoles, French, and English.

We learnt to all work together and accept and respect each other. We went to school together, swam and played together. Living on a small island, we had no choice but to get on.

When the cyclones came, we braved the storms together, and built up the community together. The devastations of the cyclones—although a negative event — were the very things that brought the islanders closer together.

My family and I immigrated to South Africa in 1974. Having come from a small island, everything seemed so big. Trying to fit in was a challenge.

I found that when one is different — in language and culture — one can expect rejection and alienation. In all the things we experienced, we knew that we had to try and win people’s approval to feel accepted.

Although this was our human way of surviving, it was not our dependency of people’s approval that God was seeking; but for us to depend on him and his acceptance of us.

Life has never been easy, but God provided for us all the way. When we found that we could not manage in our strength, we experienced God’s strength the most. This was the foundation of our faith, through God’s faithfulness. 

Through each of life’s experiences, God was present. It did not matter what the circumstances, we knew that God was using the circumstance to strengthen our faith and our dependency on him. He became our lifeline in every storm we faced. He shaped and moulded us so we could experience his peace in spite of all the storms; in sickness and in health, through richer or poorer.

Looking back at our journey, we’ve come to see that through our losses we’ve come to appreciate what we have even more. We’ve come to appreciate family and friends who walk beside us, encourage us and believe in us. We’ve also been tested through our loved ones, to see if we would seek what they want and expect from us, or what God expects from us (our calling and vocation).

Obedience to God is important in order for his plans and purpose to be achieved in our lives. No one knows that plan and purpose, unless we seek God individually. When we spend time meditating on his Word and take time to nurture our personal relationships with God, we will seek and find him.

The closer we draw to God, the closer we draw to each other. We then understand his plans and purpose for our lives. We are not to compare ourselves with others and seek to be who we are not called to be, but to appreciate our uniqueness and fulfil the plans and purpose that God has for us.

It is encouraging each other to pursue their own calling, and not what we think they should be doing. It is encouraging each other to use the gifts that God has given us to fulfil his purpose in our lives.

Often what prevents unity in a community are the sins and weaknesses of our humanity. To dominate, to give in to jealousy and envy, pride, ego, to insist on our own way and our right to be right; to do things with the wrong motives, seeking the glory instead of giving glory to God.

Fr Godfrey Solomon, a Cape Town priest, once reminded us: “We need to seek the Lord of the work in order to do the work of the Lord.” These words inspired me to see our need to seek God’s Spirit, his merciful compassion, his humility and divinity, his patience and peace, his will and ways, his Word and instructions.

When we align our spirit with God’s Spirit, we will achieve far greater things than we are ever able to do in our strength. This is how God is glorified.

The journey through life has many lessons to be learnt. At times we repeat the same mistakes and follow our own will and desires. We complain when things don’t go our way, only to find out it was not God’s way to begin with.

We experience confusion and frustration on that path. The Israelites would have made the journey to the Promised Land in 11 days as opposed to 40 years, but they needed to be inwardly transformed in that time. Their fidelity to God was tested; their dependency on God was tested.

Today our faith is tested too.  The renewal of our minds and attitudes are tested daily, until we develop a better reaction and action in the Spirit of God.

We know that we are aligning our Spirit with God when we are content, no matter what the circumstance. We no longer live in fear but in faith, and love others with God’s agape love. When we seek the wellbeing of others and celebrate their success, we know that we are closer to the purpose and plan of God.

Jesus did not come for the healthy, but for the sick. He came for the poor, the outcast, the sinners and those who struggle. He came to save, to heal, and to extend mercy and compassion.

In Christ we have the same calling, born for that purpose.