We can evaluate our behavior. We can make decisions about what we need and want. We can figure out what our problems are and what we need to do to solve them.

a planner-the sort of person who could size up a situation and take control and be rewarded with a good outcome.

The bottom line was that we have only ourselves to blame. We create our own destiny by the way we do things. We have to take advantage of opportunities

It's all in God's hands. That's where it's always been.

Ben Carson: I guess God had something to do with this. Craig: I guess God had everything to do with it.

We were very poor. But between the covers of books I could go anywhere, I could be anybody, I could do anything. I began to read about people of great accomplishment. As I read those stories, I began to see a connecting thread. I began to see that the person who had the most to do with you and what happened to you in life, is you. You make decisions. You decide how much energy you want to put behind that decision.

That's life out there. See how it's movin? Even the leaves on the trees is movin'. Life don't wait for nobody, and even as special as you are, it ain't gonna wait for you, neither. So it's time to make up your mind that you're gonna join it.

Had you been a spectator during only the first three days of creation, you might not have judged it as good. What good are seed-bearing plants with no sun for photosynthesis? In His wisdom God knew the work was good because He knew what was coming next. He knows what's coming next for you. That's why He can judge His work in you as good. Give God room to be completely creative. Meet with Him daily as He unfolds the plan in perfect order. He's really good at what He does.

Along this path of ministry, God has used an approach over and over again that I've finally come to more readily expect. He has taught me to listen to the repetitive requests of the body of Christ, and I will often discover what He wants me to do. Case in point: I had no plan whatsoever to write women's

Oh, but God had a plan. A marvelous plan. He allowed Hannah to be childless so that she would petition God for a child instead of assuming it would be the normal result of marital relations. He also allowed Hannah to be deeply desirous of a child so she would dedicate him entirely to the Lord. He sovereignly planned for His word

Sometimes we yearn for God to crack open a receptive door to share our faith. We scramble to grab an opportunity that never seems to come. Other times God swings open a door so quickly we're too stunned to walk through it!

Don't go near it, so that you can see the way to go, for you haven't traveled this way before. Joshua 3:4