Got Problems? No Worries Mate.

Sunday I was looking at a photo in the August 2012 edition of Enjoying Everyday Life, the magazine of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Joyce is reading a leather-bound Bible while sitting on a wooden chair on a wooden deck without guard rails above tranquil waters with a forest in the distance. Yellow/white sunlight hovers over the waters and everything else reminding me of Genesis 1:1-3 Amplified Bible: "In the beginning God (prepared, formed, fashioned, and) created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light."

Light reveals things. God describes Himself as light. John 1:4 Amplified Bible says, "In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men."

One of the things God wants to reveal is that God's best plan for us is loving, eternal, family relationships with God and people. John 1:12-13 Amplified Bible says, "But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—Who owe their birth neither to bloods nor to the will of the flesh [that of physical impulse] nor to the will of man [that of a natural father], but to God. [They are born of God!]"

There was never a time when God didn't choose to be in relationship with each believer. Imagine the goodness if we always choose a relationship with God and each believer God connects us to.

God put Rafael and me together. Rafael is a believer who has autism. I am a believer who does not have autism. Rafael and I love each other. In loving each other we are celebrating God, people with autism and other different minds and abilities and people of multiple other characteristics.

God made Rafael with autism on purpose. Proverbs 16:33 Amplified Bible says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but the decision is wholly of the Lord [even the events that seem accidental are really ordered by Him]."

God made Nick Vujicic and Daniel Martinez without arms and legs. Nick and Daniel are not biologically related, but they are part of the family of believers; and God created them and had them meet for a purpose.

One day Nick was set to give a speech at Knott Avenue Christian Church in Anaheim, California. Up until the time Nick was a young adult he had not met a person like himself without arms and legs. Meeting Daniel was inspirational confirming for Nick that there are others like him and giving him the privilege to guide someone younger, Daniel was a toddler at the time they met, over the obstacles of not having arms and legs through a faith that with God there are no limits.

Some say I am unrealistic in seeking marriage for Rafael because he has autism. Growing up Nick wondered how he was going to have a job that would pay enough to financially support a family. Nick wondered how he was going to have girlfriends and eventually a wife without arms to hug them.

So many mysteries that can become worries. Do you have autism, no arms or legs or some other challenges? "I ain't goin' worry about things I can't control . . . . Hold up. Why? God's got it," sings African-American Gospel singer James Moss on his CD V 4 ...The Other Side track "God's Got It." For believers God is able and willing to work out our lives for good even when we can't see how.

Growing up Nick couldn't see that he would be a motivational speaker, run a nonprofit group called Life Without Limbs and marry, but God not only knew it all along, God also had a plan for Nick to get there. God's got a plan for all of us. Chase God, and He'll reveal the plan.

Clues to God's plan are everywhere. Rafael is very spiritual. He enjoys music, meditation and intimate relationships. Women love spirituality and intimate relationships. Ninety-four percent of women in a 2002 Gallup poll reported that a spouse should be a soul mate first and foremost.

Soul mates start out as friends. The Bible talks about sex as a husband and wife knowing each other. While God did not design for singles to engage in sex, God did design for both singles and married couples to have same-sex and opposite sex friendships. Begin and improve your friendships by joining Rafael's and my relationship group. To join contact us at email address michefrancesjackson@gmail.com.