Once more then

It is a cold drippy day after a storm filled night.  I found myself standing in the hallway last night watching the radar on the TV, the interior bathroom without windows only steps away, a sleeping bag draped about my shoulders.  I listened and watched.  My husband had stopped at a shelter halfway home from work as the sirens erupted.  We talked some.  My daughter, miles away, was calling and cautioning me to get someplace safe.  Once again, we were shown mercy as the storms split and detensified while over the city.  Once past us, they rejoined and intensified.  It was an odd thing as I prayed for the towns in the path of this monster cell with 3 rotating sections and huge hail.  Today has been rainy but quiet.
This morning I read in Jeremiah 36.  God told Jeremiah to put on a scroll everything he had previously told the people and have Baruch read it to the people (Jeremiah was banned from the temple or palace) so that they had another chance to repent and change which would avert the horrid judgement coming.  When the scroll was read, the people fasted, the leaders were terrified.  They told  Baruch to get Jeremiah and go hide because they had to tell the king.  The king had them read it and as they read, he tore it apart and burned it before them.  I have this really horrid image of the king showing them that he was not afraid of the prophet's words.  It says God hid Baruch and Jeremiah.  But then they were instructed to prepare another scroll and take it to the temple as a witness.  How hard would that be?  They gave it to people who took it to people who put it in the temple.
The message I got was one of hope and yet sadness.  God wanted to give them another opportunity to make the wrong right.  He wanted the chance to show mercy one more time.  I knew that in my life if I will follow my God he will show mercy and grace.  If my family will follow he will show the same.  It may not look like what we think, but it will be amazing.  Yet if we refuse and burn the book, judgement is all that is left.  It gives me hope and stirs my heart.  Some will listen, some will not.
A while back, it occurred to me that God has a perfect will.  Period.  There is no permissive will as I was told years ago.  It's not in the Bible, sorry.  God lets people choose and they can choose to step out of his will.  There are always consequences to that.  The consequence to believing in a permissive will of God is that we feel disobedience is not that bad and we are encouraged to sin.  One day we look at life and say "How did I get here?"  It's a slow fade alright, but it's not by God's other design.
God has a plan.  Not an alternative plan but a plan.  It is based on perfect knowledge and perfect love.  He doesn't have to revamp it because we messed the first one up.  I used to think that too. But that's not in there either.  God is not changed or surprised when we fall short or sin.  He offers forgiveness and mercy in response to faith and repentance.  His plan is still on track for our lives.  It is personal and perfect throughout life.  It does not depend on who we are and it does not ignore who we are.  The gifts and calling of God are not subject to retracting.  He is God.  It's time to see and accept his plan and his will.  It may not look like your will or your expectation, but it is incredible and perfect.
Now if I can own this knowledge!  Blessings, friends.