Purpose And Preparation

Lately I feel like everything I'm hearing is about God's purpose and his plan. It kind of came off of Joshua and then kept on going with everything I hear and read. My devotional the past few days has been about God's plans too. The most popular "plan" verse is Jeremiah 29:11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.'" But so many other times the Bible talks about God's plan for your life and to keep on no matter what you're facing. 

• James 1:2-4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 
• 1 Peter 5:9-10: Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
• Psalm 118:8 “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”
• Philippians 2:13 “It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

I can't think of other verses right now and it's going to bug me! Anyways, I've been thinking about how God is so big and he has something great in store. Like, bigger than I could have ever imagined. And right now is a stage of preparation. I have no idea what's going to happen but I do know that God is working something up. In Joshua, the Israelites went through a preparation period before they crossed the Jordan and defeated their enemies. God was getting them ready for the next even in their lives and journey. You might feel like God isn't really doing much right now in your life, or in the opposite way, life is kicking into high gear and it's getting harder and harder! God is USING that! He is using what you're going through right now SO much you don't even know! Well I don't either, only God does, but it's great. His plans for us are so much more than we can even think about. I feel so naive to God's plans. I want to know right now what's going to happen. That's sadly now how God does things! It's for the better anyways I know (; But, yeah lately I've just been getting this feeling that for however long this period in my life is, it's just getting me ready for whatever is to come because God's doing something big! He's already got it in the works beyond my comprehension and what a plan and purpose it is!