Please welcome our very first guest post by my dear friend, Ms. Marci Tharpe Mulkey. Marci is the mom of two amazing biological kids, adopted mom to countless others and teacher mom to probably thousands through the years. There isn’t a child she doesn’t love and to know her is to love her too. I’m honored to call her my friend and I know you will be blessed by her as well. Welcome Marci, and thank you for sharing your heart with us.
Jeremiah 29:11. This verse is continuously emerging everywhere I look! “For I know the plans I have for you” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Plans for my welfare? Plans to prosper me? So why did He have to take me on a roller coaster ride if he had plans for me from the beginning? And not just any roller coaster – the kind that takes you through three upside down loops, through ten tunnels of terror, and down at least three free fall dips! That is simple, yet complex: he needed me to recognize they are HIS plans.
For so long I had my own plans, my own visions of my perfect life. Slowly but surely those went up in smoke. Not once, not twice, but three times (and let me assure you the third was a charm)! I knew God; I am sure I always have. Growing up I LOVED church. My granny and my ma-ma made sure I was there and, when old enough, I went on my own free will. I knew scripture. I was rooted BUT I still wanted my way. Why? I can’t answer this plainly, but the complex answer is because God needed me to make my mistakes so I could accept His plans. Looking back if I had not experienced the major devastation I experienced in 2016, I would still be a Pilgrim on the wrong ship to the new world! I would still be lost.
Today, God is moving in my life. Am I perfect? No! Far from it, but to borrow my friend, Tab’s, saying, God choke slammed me at the cross. I want to MOVE for him. I deeply desire to make a difference. Will I still falter and sin? Absolutely! Will I be chastised by those who cannot forget my mistakes? Yes. But my prayer is that those people experience whatever they need to experience to feel the peace I feel today. I still have days, BAD days. The past STILL comes knocking at my door. It gets easier daily to leave it right there.
God led me to the RIGHT people by letting me experience the wrong ones. I have friends who never left, parents who go above and beyond, and I have augmented my circle with nine women of strong faith who encourage me to dig deeper. I am blessed (still sometimes stressed – I’m human) but richly blessed. I want to begin sharing those blessing with whoever will receive them.
Lord, Thank you for meeting me right where I was. Please remove the negativity from my thoughts and actions. Help me to help others see God’s plans to prosper them. Help me to cleanse my mind of negativity and judgement, and thank You for Your grace. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Marci Tharpe Mulkey Y’ALL! ❤ ❤ ❤
Ashlee Gillis Vickers, CPC 