God, PonderedThought Jessica Stephens God, PonderedThought Jessica Stephens

Stop Confusing God's "Intended Will" for His Redemptive Nature 

God is redemptive in nature. Therefore, although He can make a masterpiece out of a mess, don’t confuse yourself in thinking that it had to be a mess in order to be a masterpiece. Let me say that again. Your sin was not the necessity for God's masterpiece.

If I hadn’t committed adultery, we wouldn’t have grown deeper in our marriage.

If I hadn’t left my wife and kids for a season, I wouldn’t have realized my need for them.

If I hadn’t gotten drunk, I wouldn’t have been bold enough to share the gospel with my friends that night. 

If I hadn’t gone to the strip club that night, I wouldn’t have met .... 

If I hadn’t gotten an abortion, I wouldn’t have finished college or gotten married to the love of my life.

If I hadn’t divorced my husband in frustration, I wouldn’t have ever seen my own brokenness.

If I hadn’t gambled that night, I wouldn’t have ever received enough money to pay that bill.

God is redemptive in nature. Therefore, although He can make a masterpiece out of a mess, don’t confuse yourself in thinking that it had to be a mess in order to be a masterpiece. 

Let me say that again... 

Your sin was not the necessity for God's masterpiece. 

His Goodness, His Sovereignty, His Omnipotence, however, was and is. 

And yet we tell ourselves this subtle lie to justify certain sins in our life or certain seasons of sin in our life to quiet the condemnation and shame that can seep forth from the remembrance of our own actions‒when in actuality, it’s the freedom found in Christ’s blood, through His forgiveness, that can only erase the shame associated.

Rest in God’s grace and goodness. Don’t rest in justifying sin upon seeing any good outcomes that can come from the sin and then reassure yourself by saying “Oh, well maybe it had to be this way in order for this good to happen in my life.”

No! It was the redemptive nature of Christ! And His redemptive nature ought to compel us to instead say, “Wow, look at God's grace in my life! Look at His goodness despite me! Praise the Lord for His mercy! He didn’t have to do it, but He did!!!” 

Again, when we see glimpses of good that spring forth despite our sin- it’s easy to believe the lie that we had to sin in order for “this good” to occur. Not so. The truth is that God is just so sovereign that He has the power and authority for good to be brought forth despite your sin. Why? Because He is redemptive in nature.

“28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
-Romans 8:28

What I learn from King David’s rape of Bathsheba is that the Lord used such a broken man to accomplish so many of God’s purposes. But we can’t gloss over the consequences that came with that sin too. A child died as a consequence of David’s sin. And we can’t ignore the generational consequences of his lustful actions that traveled to the next generation (his son raped his own half-sister, his other son had 700 wives and 300 concubines, his other son publicly raped David’s own concubines for all to see. ) 

Secondly, we can’t gloss over what was God’s intended plan for King David if he hadn’t sinned- something we will never know in its entirety. What did God intend on doing if David had remained faithful to one wife? If he hadn’t raped Bathsheba? If he hadn’t murdered another man in order to marry that man’s wife etc? I’ll never know. We’ll never know. 

But here’s the main point. 

God's intended plan never involves us sinning in order to accomplish what He wants to do in and through our life. There is never a time in which God smiles and is pleased when we sin. 

3 quick scriptures to back up what I’m saying: 

11 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

Sin will forever and always be destructive in nature. Therefore, the plans that God intends for us do not involve the nature of death, which is sin. He wants us to forever choose life, which is contained in His Word. 

15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. -Deuteronomy 30: 15-18

For the New Testament believer, this promise still holds true.

Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. -Galatians 6:8

But you might say, “Yeah, but didn’t Jesus say, in this life, you will have many trials and tribulations and that you will go through?”

Yes, but some tribulations He never intended for us. They were brought on by our own sinfulness and foolishness. 

People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the LORD. -Proverbs 19:3

We don’t know what God had planned for David if He had been faithful to his first wife. We don’t know what generational blessings would’ve been brought forth from His obedience to the Word.

Yet, we do know how the Lord still used David’s adultery with Bathsheba to accomplish God’s purposes, therefore, displaying His Own redemptive nature. 

I’ll summarize by saying it again...

PonderedThought:

It’s never God’s will for you to sin in order for God to work in and through your life. God can use anything, yes! But don’t confuse yourself by thinking that the only way something good was brought forth in your life was because of your own personal sin. This is a dangerous trap, deceitful thinking, and quite frankly, a lie that many have believed throughout the years. That “good” was brought forth in your life because God is Good. He is Sovereign. And He is Redemptive in Nature.

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PonderedThought, God Jessica Stephens PonderedThought, God Jessica Stephens

Lord, Make Me Like a Child Again

My children’s expressions pinpointed a joy and a looseness that I craved.
Their movements lacked a sense of awareness and need for perfection that I coveted.
They simply ran.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “I wanna be a kid again”? 

I hear this phrase often when adults refer to the absence of bills, stress, and major responsibilities that children have. 

Hmmm....that would be nice in some ways. 

Interestingly, the Lord is beckoning us to become like children again—not for the aforementioned reasons. Nor in terms of returning to the little wisdom, knowledge, and discernment we had as children. 

The Lord is wanting us to become like children again through our disposition towards Him.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
— Matthew 19:14

Recently, while at the park with my kiddos, I observed my three-year-old and twenty-month-old running on the asphalt. 

Their expressions pinpointed a joy and a looseness that I craved.

Their movements lacked a sense of awareness and need for perfection that I coveted.

They simply ran.


Coats hanging half off. Arms swinging awkwardly. Feet shuffling this way and that.

When they ran, I didn't see worry etched across their faces. I didn't see doubt. I saw very little self-consciousness.

Instead, I witnessed a beauty within their displayed confidence in simply being able to run. 

I saw freedom, y’all.

As an adult, I’ve learned the social cues, the proper responses, and the ability to maintain control in both movement and word.

I’ve learned the right moments to laugh, the perfect moments to smile, and the appropriate gestures to make in order to appear mature.

I don't run with the sense of freedom my children possess. 

Yet, when I come to the throne of mercy and of grace, I sense the Holy Spirit beckoning me to strip off my clothing and to allow His presence to burn away that which I most want others to see—my very adult-like exterior shell.

When He does so, I feel naked and exposed. My eyes suddenly become open to the wickedness that lays in my heart, and I become ashamed. He reveals my hidden thoughts and my hidden motives. The “adult” in me wants to quickly put my clothes back on. I want to leave His presence and come back with thicker clothing—harder to remove.

I find justifications.

I deflect.

I push away- afraid of the light that burns away the carnal. I frantically look for the strands of thread that I think are somewhat clean.

But right before I resort to running away all together, God's manifest presence overwhelms. Suddenly, I'm reminded of what it feels like to be a child again. 

I'm reminded of the inexpressible joy and freedom obtained in His Presence when I relinquish my wants and desires through surrender and trust.

He's a Good Good Father. 

I remember the warmth....yes, the warmth when I replace my substandard clothing in exchange for His royal clothing of righteousness. 

Why do I forget this feeling? Why is it so hard to answer the call when God says, “Come to me, Jessica, like a child?”

Because in every part of my life, I’ve tried to hide being like a child. I’ve mistaken maturity for a lack of excitement, for a lack of making mistakes, for a lack of being vulnerable to exposing that I’m fallen and in desperate need of a Savior. For the sake of being mature, I mask pain. I find remedies.

Why do I do this??

I’ve learned that there are little avenues in life in which one can appear weak, incompetent, unstable...and broken—in need of assistance.


Ohhhhh…But there is one. It's in His Presence.

Children are dependent. Despite their obvious inadequacies, to others and to even themselves, they are still able to run freely in the fields of the unknown, completely comfortable. Why? I think it’s because they know that they still have time to grow. I think as long as they know that there is One who knows the way, they rest in simply enjoying the ride.


Prayer: Make us like children, Abbah. May Your Holy Presence burn away the fake clothes that we wish to put on in order to cover the scars, weaknesses, and even our own wickedness. We stand before you naked—in full belief that if we are Your children, You clothe us with Your own clothes of righteousness. Clothes that can never be removed, replaced, or altered. Make us like  children again, where we can run through the fields with You, unashamed, and in full trust that the work that You began in us..You will complete.

I challenge you to pray to Him as a child, in complete need of the Father—knowing that He already knows of your your sin, your impure thoughts, your impure motives—and yet He still loves. His presence is the safest for confession and repentance. He’s a Good Good Father.

Confess sin as sin in His presence and be oh so thankful for the reality of Christ’s forgiveness. Be oh so thankful that as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed your sins from you. Be oh so thankful for your imputed righteousness. Be oh so thankful that YOU ARE the righteousness of Christ. YOU are a co-heir with Christ! YOU are wrapped in His glory. YOU ARE a new creation! You ARE already seated with Christ in heavenly places.


Simply come to Him and don’t be ashamed of your great need to do so. In doing so, You will experience the utmost freedom. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). “

Blog Post Inspired from the following passage:

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
— Revelation 3: 17-18



My sexy husband and our son.

My sexy husband and our son.

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