Our lives are largely the product of choices we make. Whether positive or negative, the outcome of any choice outlives the process that produced it.

In my wife’s testimony (which you can read here), she tells how she made the choice to move from Portland to nearby Dallas in 1972. Debbie confesses that she did not have much of a plan upon arriving there but adds, “The Lord did have a plan.” That is so true. God always has a plan. As Debbie experienced, we usually do not know what it is. Yet, when faced with life choices, we can count on Him to show us which path to take. One step at a time, we progress along His path, and eventually we see His plan unfold.

As a teen with an uncertain future, Debbie’s process for making decisions was shaped by Scripture. She found guidance in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” She was confident that God would direct her as she prayerfully looked to Him. Her process also included a camp meeting prayer service where she received a personal assurance that God was leading her to Dallas, sixty-five miles southwest of Portland. Though she did not know His plan, she followed His path.

Debbie became part of the Dallas branch church, where I would attend for the first time two years later. Seven years after her move, she was married and had a daughter and a son. It’s now been fifty-two years, and the consequences of that choice continue to follow her. Of course, there have been many more decisions along the way, as well as times of prayer seeking divine direction. Some choices were of little consequence and others were of great impact. While she would not claim that every one was divinely disclosed, in hindsight we can plainly see that God directed her path and that He indeed had a plan.

Unlike Debbie, I was not raised in a Christian home and had not been taught to seek God’s will for my future. However, as a newly saved twenty-one-year old, I began to pray that way. Soon I attended a service at the Dallas church. Then I was invited to lunch at the pastor’s home, where Debbie was living at the time. That was no coincidence. It was God’s plan! We both agree that it was a good one.

Along with Debbie’s testimony, in this magazine you will read how God directed the steps of Timothy Kaibula, Christine Ampofo-Ansah, and others. As you seek God’s direction in your own choices, He will do the same for you. The blessings you accumulate as His plan unfolds will far outlive the process.