“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
We believe that God our creator loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives. It’s easy for us to agree when we like the plan, or when the plan goes as we would want. But what do we do when the plan isn’t what we expect—We cry out, “Lord, what’s happening?” We are all familiar with the notion that God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we would like, or in the timeframe we often expect. Pray for any length of time and sooner or later (probably sooner) you will come up against the hard reality of a sincere prayer that doesn’t seem to be answered at all.
What do we do when it seems to us that God hasn’t come through for us? How do we keep hope alive when life itself seems to take a wrong turn down a dead-end street? What if all that we hold dear is suddenly snatched away, if all the familiar landmarks are removed, if our friends or family members desert us? What if our job is gone, if our health disappears, or death unbidden to our door. These things do happen—so what then? We are led to face a difficult but undeniable reality—Sometimes God’s plan, or maybe more accurately God’s answer is different from what we expected.
Join us this week at Sedona United Methodist Church as the Rev. Fred Mast concludes a summer series of messages focused on prayer with an inspired message entitled “Livin’ The Dream”. Sunday mornings we enter the spirit of worship at 9:30 am featuring meaningful and uplifting music, special times of prayer and passionate life changing messages designed to move you closer in your relationship with Jesus Christ and others. Immediately following worship, you are encouraged and invited to stay and join us in our Fellowship Hall for the friendliest and best fellowship time anywhere featuring delicious snacks and great coffee and always friendship.
We offer several weekly book and bible studies: Wednesday’s our Men’s Bible Study at 9am; and Thursday’s our Women’s Bible Study at 9:45am. So many great missions, ministries and events happening at Sedona UMC—Visit our website at us on www.sedonaumc.org and “Like” us on Facebook. We would love to pray for you!—Prayer requests may be submitted online or by calling us at 928-282-1780. We are conveniently located at 110 Indian Cliffs Road off the Back O’Beyond roundabout on Route 179 in Sedona. All are welcome at Sedona UMC—Come and grow with us!
