Life is a continuum we must traverse from our beginning until our end. We experience many stages during this journey, and they are all a part of the process of enhancing our development and allow us to experience our destiny and purpose. Despite life's ups and downs, ins and outs, and good and bad, we must learn to hear and understand our purpose and remain steadfast until the end. In Finished Th ings: Th e Promise of Completion� author and pastor DeBorah Coleman uses Philippians 1:6 to provide encouragement to stay on the path that God has set out for us. She interweaves Scripture and biblical figures and ideas with her own insights, personal stories, and modern-day elements to show the importance of persevering, despite the obstacles, to reach the pinnacle of our faith. Coleman communicates the importance of concentrating on our goals and staying in the game to fi nish the course. Get ready for some things to change. Get ready for people to change. Get ready for our own change. We are on the course that leads to completion. God promised to complete what he began in us.

Auszug. � Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

FINISHED THINGS

The Promise Of CompletionBy DeBorah Coleman

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright � 2012 Rev. DeBorah Coleman
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-7340-5

Acknowledgements....................................................viiPreface.............................................................ixIntroduction........................................................xiChapter 1 Where to Begin............................................3Chapter 2 The Architect.............................................7Chapter 3 Deliberate................................................11Chapter 4 Distractions..............................................15Chapter 5 Direction.................................................27Chapter 6 A Sure Word...............................................29Chapter 7 En Route..................................................35Chapter 8 Performance Art...........................................39Chapter 9 Surviving the Pitfalls....................................45Chapter 10 Trust God's Process......................................49Chapter 11 Time for a Change........................................55Chapter 12 No Time Warp.............................................59Chapter 13 Surround Yourself With Possibilities.....................65Chapter 14 Press Past...............................................73Chapter 15 Aesthetically Dangerous..................................77Chapter 16 Traveling Time...........................................81Chapter 17 Level Complete...........................................85

Chapter One

Where to Begin

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

My grandfather, Leona B. Owens was born before the turn of the twentieth century in rural Missouri. Though never a slave, he did experience the shameful system of segregation that plagued our country. That also meant he was subject to the demeaning, debasing and humiliating events that were considered the norm of that era. With the loss of his mother at a very early age and a father who himself barely escaped slavery, he was encouraged to work to prove his manhood and establish his place in the severely impoverished community in which they resided in central Missouri. As a result of all the contributing factors, my grandfather never learned to properly read and write.

I am always bewildered by the fact that grandpa could not read or write because he had such an amazing memory. I realized in later years that he used that memory to make a living. He gambled. Mostly he played cards, but he also shot dice. As I was growing up as a little girl my grandfather was out most nights plying his trade and making money for our family. It was that same memory he put into use when he gave his life to the Lord.

I was eight and a half when my grandfather was saved. Now instead of my grandmother taking us to church, my grandfather gathered all of his grandchildren and walked us to church each Sunday. When I look back over that time, we must have seemed a strange looking group. Much like the Pied Piper, there we were my mother's five children and my uncle's ten at the time, all trailing behind this old man who walked like Fred Sanford, from the 1970's television series, in the old man shuffle from side to side. Every Sunday and several days during the week, you could find us, some reluctantly, following behind as my grandfather led the way to church.

Grandpa's thirst and desire for the Word was insatiable. It was like he was trying to catch up on all the years he had missed out. He was at every Bible study and prayer meeting, but it never seemed to be enough. With less than a second grade education, that desire was temporarily impeded, until he discovered my love for reading. Grandpa had many grandchildren to choose from, but I had the willingness and I shared in the desire for the Word. How I loved that old man! It became my job to sit at his feet nightly and read the Word to my grandfather. As I dusted off the cobwebs of my memory I could see my grandpa sitting in his comfortable old overstuffed chair intently focused on hearing what I read. Remarkably, he never asked many questions. It was as if he had an innate ability to know. I simply gave him the knowledge of the words, the understanding was already there.

Night after night I sat there nestled against my grandfather's leg reading the scriptures to him. Then one day at church as I listened to my grandfather sharing during a testimony service, repeating scriptures verbatim giving the location, chapter and verse, I realized he had memorized the scriptures I had been reading to him. Now all these years later I have come to understand that, as a part of the vast and awesome plan of God, my grandfather was unable to read so that I would absorb the Word at an early age. Though I never quite had my grandfather's ability to memorize, I was always an advanced reader and my gift was to be able extend the word God has so freely given me to others with clarity.

The insight for me that God's plan from the beginning of time included me is most incredible. But the fact that my grandfather as brilliant as he was could not read and write because it was a part of God's ultimate plan for me, is evidence that He had already mapped out His strategy for my life from the very beginning.

I am very much reminded of the story of Joseph, Jacob's beloved son, as he said to his brothers, "Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me here; for God did send me before you to preserve life." (Gen. 45:5) Joseph spent over 20 years away from his family living in a foreign land. Most of his time was spent imprisoned for wrongs he didn't commit. Yet he assures his brothers that as much as they may blame themselves for their act, it was God's ultimate plan to have him in the proper position to preserve His people during the time of famine.

Joseph sees the big picture and God's purpose completed in his life. He was propelled by a vision at the age of 17 years old. But he trusted the God he served to be able to perform that which He had proclaimed for his life. God in turn always lifted Joseph up no matter what the situation or condition.

This is a reminder that everything that looks bad or negative may not necessarily be so. God uses the peaks and the valleys to strengthen and define our character to be used by Him. Romans 8:28 tells us, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." I always emphasize to my congregation the all. Not just the good things are used, but all things; the good, the bad and the ugly are used together to affect the purpose. What more can you ask but for the assurance that no matter what happens, He will make it work out for your good, He will make it benefit you.

Sometimes the vision is clear as in Joseph's case. Even though he didn't have the particulars, he had the essence. He knew that he would have a position of authority over his brothers and father. He knew that God had plans to elevate him and his family would be under his rule. It may have seemed presumptuous of Joseph as next to the youngest of Jacob's twelve sons to boast of his rule over his family but Joseph was convinced of God's desire to use him in an extraordinary way. By the way Joseph's dream was but the tip of the iceberg. He dreamed of ruling over his family; God's plan included him...

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