{"id":25913,"date":"2023-03-29T23:54:16","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T06:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2023-paintestimony-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-03-30T00:08:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T07:08:21","slug":"2023-plans","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2023-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"God Had Other Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"text-align: right;\">By\u00a0Tim Gustafson<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-25914 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/plans-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/plans-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/plans-1-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Their precise ages are unknown. One was found on the steps of a church; the other knew only that she\u2019d been raised by nuns. Born in Poland during World War II, for nearly eighty years neither Halina nor Krystyna knew about each other. Then DNA test results revealed them to be sisters and led to a joyful reunion. It also revealed their Jewish heritage, explaining why they\u2019d been abandoned. Evil people had marked the girls for death simply because of their identity.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-25915 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/plans-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/plans-2.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/plans-2-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Imagining a frightened mother who leaves her threatened children where they might be rescued calls to mind the story of Moses. As a Hebrew baby boy, he was marked for genocide (see\u00a0Exodus 1:22). His mother strategically placed him in the Nile (2:3), giving him a chance for survival. God had a plan she couldn\u2019t have dreamed of\u2014to rescue His people through Moses.<\/p>\n<p>The story of Moses points us to the story of Jesus. As Pharaoh had sought the murder of Hebrew boys, Herod ordered the slaughter of all the baby boys in Bethlehem (see\u00a0Matthew 2:13\u201316).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-25916 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/plans-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/plans-3.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/plans-3-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Behind all such hatred\u2014especially against children\u2014is our enemy the devil. Such violence doesn\u2019t take God by surprise. He had plans for Moses, and He has plans for you and me. And through His Son, Jesus, He\u2019s revealed His biggest plan\u2014to rescue and restore those who once were His enemies.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-25917 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/plans-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/plans-4.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/plans-4-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":25916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[35],"class_list":["post-25913","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-english-writer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/25913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/25913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25918,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/25913\/revisions\/25918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25913"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=25913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}