Pastor Jesse Bradley of Washington advised basketball star Bronny James, whose playing days may end.
“Because my thoughts are not like your thoughts, and my ways are not like your ways,” says the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9).
This verse is from the Book of Isaiah, one of the last books in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.
The name Isaiah means “the Lord saves,” and he is sometimes called the “prince of prophets,” according to the website Bible Study Tools.
It’s unclear if he wrote all of the Book of Isaiah, but the things in it are thought to have happened about 700 years before Christ was born.
Pastor Jesse Bradley of Auburn, Washington, told the media that God’s plan can be hard to understand, even for the most devoted followers.
Bradley runs Grace Community Church as the leader.
“What do you do when your hopes are dashed, your dreams are put on hold, and your expectations are wiped out?” he asked.
“Your life is going in one way, and then something unexpected happens. It pushes you to your limits.”
A person must understand that their “plans and preferences are very different from reality” and that God’s time “at first doesn’t make any sense.”
“There’s a lot of disappointment, and you’re tempted to go down a path of darkness, despair, and failure,” Bradley said.
Still, the verse from Isaiah is a good lesson that God’s plan may not be what people want, but it is better than anything we can know.
“Delays do not mean denial,” Bradley said. “The story of a person is not over yet.”
Bradley’s life shows that God’s plans don’t always line up with what people want to happen.
Bradley played soccer at Dartmouth College and then went overseas to make a living at it.
“A tragic illness put an end to my career as a goalkeeper in Zimbabwe,” he said.
Bradley told the media that when he was sick, he “found my strength in the Lord” and started reading and learning the Bible.
“At night, I wrote down 10 things I was thankful for so I could keep a grateful attitude,” he said.
He also said, “Staying with Jesus became my main goal.”
Bradley said, “I learned that I can tell God everything I’m feeling in prayer and that God can and will carry my biggest worries. “I started to get God’s love in new ways instead of defining myself by what I did and trying to earn his favor,” he said.
“When I was at my worst, God’s grace filled my soul.”
Bradley said that James and anyone dealing with lousy timing should “develop habits that renew their minds, make room for God, and bring healing.”
“Build on strong places. “Take the next step, do the right thing, and be deliberate and true,” he told her. “What God can do isn’t limited in any way.”
In the end, Bradley said, “God is the One who decides when to bring us home.”
And because Christ died for people’s sins and beat death, people have “an unbreakable hope,” he said.
“If you want your mistakes to be forgiven, to feel God’s peace, and to live forever, accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior and follow Him. “Hope is about people,” Bradley said.
“Your hope is only as strong as the one in whom you put your trust.”
Bradley told the media that because of his health problems, he “realized that every day is a gift from God” and that “God used the pain to fuel and forge new purpose and passion.”
“I didn’t have hope until I lost it,” Bradley said. Now I can give people all over the world hope.”
Everyone has hope, and “there is a hope for greater than our challenges,” he said.
“God’s timing is perfect because his character and eternity are perfect,” he said.
“You can always count on him to be there for you, even when you’re mad. Remember to look up, even when things are at their worst.”
He told them, “Look to the One who weeps with you, knows everything, and sees the whole picture.”
He also said, “You can have a sense of security that goes beyond your original frustrations with time. The best thing God can give us is himself.”
