Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth - You Can Trust God to Write Your Story: Embracing the Mysteries of Providence

2019 by
REVIVED HEARTS FOUNDATION and ROBERT D. WOLGEMUTH

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by permission of Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188, U.S.A. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked CSB are taken from the Christian Standard Bible. Copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible, and CSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Italics in Scripture references indicate author emphasis.

Names and details in some illustrations have been changed to protect individuals privacy.

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates.

Edited by Anne Christian Buchanan
Cover and interior design: Erik M. Peterson
Author photo by Vitaly Manzuk (vitalymanzuk.com).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Wolgemuth, Nancy DeMoss, author. | Wolgemuth, Robert D., author.

Title: You can trust God to write your story : embracing the mysteries of providence / Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth and Robert Wolgemuth.

Description: Chicago : Moody Publishers, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2019017425 (print) | LCCN 2019020750 (ebook) | ISBN 9780802498144 () | ISBN 9780802419514

Subjects: LCSH: Providence and government of God--Christianity. | Trust in God--Christianity. | Trust in God in the Bible.

Classification: LCC BT135 (ebook) | LCC BT135 .W63 2019 (print) | DDC 231/.5--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019017425

ISBN: 978-0-8024-1951-4
eBook ISBN: 978-0-8024-9814-4

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T o Nancys beloved pastor, Dr. William Hogan, under whose preaching she was nurtured during her childhood and teen years. Through his ministry of the Word, she grew to treasure and trust the sovereignty of God as a good and precious gift. Bill could not have imagined how his influence in this young womans lifeand that of his dear wife, Janewould someday become one of Gods kindest gifts to me.

In Gods sweet Providence, more than forty years later, Bills life became further intertwined in the story God was writing in Roberts and my lives when he officiated our wedding. As we turned the page to a new chapter in our story that day, this faithful servant in his eighties reminded us:

Who goes before you?
The King of glory!

This continues to be our confidence as we wait on the edge of our seats in anticipation of all that our King has in store for His followers in the days and ages to come.

All my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.

PSALM 139:16 CSB

Friend,

Thank you for choosing to read this Moody Publishers title. It is our hope and prayer that this book will help you to know Jesus Christ more personally and love Him more deeply.

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D uring a recent trip to Maryland, I drove beyond our family farm to visit the campus of Western Maryland College. I wanted to meander the commons and courtyards of this old Methodist college I originally planned to attend. Had much changed since 1967, when I wouldve been a freshman? As I wheeled past the brick buildings, I kept thinking, how different my life wouldve been had I graduated from here. My goal was to become a physical therapist, but who knows? Maybe I wouldve changed my major, left school to marry, or even wandered away from my fledgling Christian faith.

All I know is that Jesus had a much better design for my life. I paused on a hill overlooking the athletic field and smiled. Yes, I got into physical therapy but as a quadriplegic from a diving accident just weeks before my college orientation! Never, ever did I dream I would come to this school as a visitor in a wheelchair.

And a very contented visitor. I felt no hint of remorse or regret. Not once did I envy the girls on the athletic field, practicing lacrosse. To be honest, I couldnt wait to get back in the van and continue the drive to our Joni and Friends Family Retreat just north in the Pennsylvania mountains.

God has made His design for my life abundantly clearfor the past forty years, I have led a Christian ministry that is reaching for Christ hundreds of thousands of disabled people and their families across the US and around the world. We hold retreats for special-needs families across the globe and deliver thousands of wheelchairs to needy kids with disabilities overseas. To give hope and help to hurting people? I cant think of a happier story that God couldve written for my life.