It's the simple truth that, in life, we will have disappointments. Not everything will go your way! As Christians, we trust in God and have hope that He has a great plan for our lives--and that this plan is good.
Sometimes, things don't go as we have planned. As humans, we make plans all the time. We plan what we will eat, where we will go, how much education to pursue, what career to have, what house to buy, how long we will live in one place, etc. We plan, and plan, and plan.
We think we have it all figured out. At least...some people think they do. I am one of those people, unfortunately. Through a futile attempt to be in control, I try to know and plan everything ahead of time. It's not possible. That's why I said it's futile!
God has a different plan (than my own) for my life. He knows every day of my life from before I was born until the second I will die. He knows everything in advance. I trust that He is all-knowing, and He has control over my entire life.
Sometimes, it feels like I am in the dark about those plans for my life. It's like walking through a long dark tunnel. I can see the beacon of light at the end of the tunnel, but the path to get there is darkened and seems difficult in every way. I do trust that God will take me through the tunnel--by His grace--and I will come out the other side.
I am humbled every time I think that I know where I'm going and then life takes me in a different direction. I have a plan. I am being responsible to plan (I was taught growing up that planning is essential). I am being a mature adult to plan my way, right? The world tells me that I need to have my day planned, my week planned, my year planned, a five-year plan, a ten-year plan, and even a plan on how I will die (writing a will).
But...how much can we really plan in life? Does life not throw us curve balls? Do we find out that our plans are not working out THE WAY WE PLANNED. Perhaps, you don't get that promotion at work that you hoped for (and planned on), or you don't finish your school degree because your mother/father gets terminally ill, or you have to move across the country to find work, attend school, or take care of a family member. Maybe your day gets off-track, and you feel that you have accomplished nothing that you set out to do. Maybe your kids aren't perfectly behaved, or they have trouble in school that you didn't plan for...or maybe your child gets cancer. Maybe that baby you have desperately wanted to hold in your arms for 9 months is born, but doesn't live for long. These all sound like horrible things that can happen to any of us. I'm not here to point out the negative aspects of life, but I'm here to illustrate that GOD HAS A PLAN--AND IT'S A GOOD PLAN!
When I was 19 years old, I became pregnant with my daughter. I was single and in college. It was a very scary time for me. I had planned to attend college and finish an accelerated path to a degree, and then become a traveling journalist. I wanted to be a reporter in war zones and famished, diseased countries. I wanted to travel the world, independently and nurture my sense of adventure. Being pregnant at 19 was not part of my plan.
Now, my daughter is turning 13 this year! She is a bright, beautiful individual with an even stronger sense of adventure than her mother. She is perfect in every way to me. She is the older sister to two rambunctious younger brothers, neither of which came along according to my plans. I have found that my plans for life have failed--time and time again! God's plans have prevailed.
Most recently, I planned to start a counseling internship in June of this year. Despite calling many places, and even interviewing at some, I have not been able to locate an internship. Things (again) are not going according to my plan. Do I know God has it under control? Yes...but the planner in me is going crazy.
What I have learned these past few months is that God has a plan, but it's certainly not my plan. His plans are good. I started thinking the other day about what my life would be like, had my plans all worked out. It would be drastically different from what I experience today. I would not be married to my husband, have my beautiful children, and I may have been dead by now--killed at the hands of angry people in a foreign country. I may have contracted some deadly disease (Ebola?)...or numerous other unpleasant things.
Although I did not plan for things to go this way, I have a very good life. I am happy, blessed and my life is full of unexpected surprises. These surprises are never part of the plan, but they have turned out to be the things in my life that I treasure most.
In the Bible, Joseph did not see being sold into slavery and kept in prison (for a crime he didn't commit) as part of his plan. It doesn't really talk about what his plans were, but he seemed happy to be working with his brothers and father at home. He made a mistake of telling his brothers about a dream that showed he would one day be in authority over them. This fueled their already existent envy and bitterness and turned his life in a direction that he never expected. They sold him into slavery. Although he tried to do the right thing and honor God, his life was constantly full of trouble.
Sometimes, I really wonder what he was thinking while he sat in prison, wrongfully accused. How did he not become overly discouraged and want to give up. Did he want to curse God for allowing this trial in his life? Life was not working out for him the way he planned. It seemed the whole world was against him, and no matter what he did, it didn't change his circumstances.
I have felt this way before.
But...Joseph didn't know the plans that God had for his life. His plans were to prosper Joseph, not to harm him, to give him a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). God knew that one day, through a single act of displaying the wisdom and knowledge of God, God would release Joseph from prison and place him in a high authority in Egypt. He didn't know that (through this position) he would be able to meet the needs of his family and practice supernatural forgiveness. He was given great honor and position, but none of this was his plan. It was God's plan FOR HIM.
Life throws us curve balls. Things don't work out according to our plans. Know this--God's plan for your life is always better and greater. He is positioning you for prosperity, to give you a future and a hope. His plans are never to harm you. If you feel like God has forgotten you, or doesn't care about you, or is seeking to harm you...just wait...the BEST IS YET TO COME!
Jeremiah 29:10-14 (NIV)
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Proverbs 19:21 (NLT)
You can make many plans, but the LORD's purpose will prevail.
Sometimes, things don't go as we have planned. As humans, we make plans all the time. We plan what we will eat, where we will go, how much education to pursue, what career to have, what house to buy, how long we will live in one place, etc. We plan, and plan, and plan.
We think we have it all figured out. At least...some people think they do. I am one of those people, unfortunately. Through a futile attempt to be in control, I try to know and plan everything ahead of time. It's not possible. That's why I said it's futile!
God has a different plan (than my own) for my life. He knows every day of my life from before I was born until the second I will die. He knows everything in advance. I trust that He is all-knowing, and He has control over my entire life.
Sometimes, it feels like I am in the dark about those plans for my life. It's like walking through a long dark tunnel. I can see the beacon of light at the end of the tunnel, but the path to get there is darkened and seems difficult in every way. I do trust that God will take me through the tunnel--by His grace--and I will come out the other side.
I am humbled every time I think that I know where I'm going and then life takes me in a different direction. I have a plan. I am being responsible to plan (I was taught growing up that planning is essential). I am being a mature adult to plan my way, right? The world tells me that I need to have my day planned, my week planned, my year planned, a five-year plan, a ten-year plan, and even a plan on how I will die (writing a will).
But...how much can we really plan in life? Does life not throw us curve balls? Do we find out that our plans are not working out THE WAY WE PLANNED. Perhaps, you don't get that promotion at work that you hoped for (and planned on), or you don't finish your school degree because your mother/father gets terminally ill, or you have to move across the country to find work, attend school, or take care of a family member. Maybe your day gets off-track, and you feel that you have accomplished nothing that you set out to do. Maybe your kids aren't perfectly behaved, or they have trouble in school that you didn't plan for...or maybe your child gets cancer. Maybe that baby you have desperately wanted to hold in your arms for 9 months is born, but doesn't live for long. These all sound like horrible things that can happen to any of us. I'm not here to point out the negative aspects of life, but I'm here to illustrate that GOD HAS A PLAN--AND IT'S A GOOD PLAN!
When I was 19 years old, I became pregnant with my daughter. I was single and in college. It was a very scary time for me. I had planned to attend college and finish an accelerated path to a degree, and then become a traveling journalist. I wanted to be a reporter in war zones and famished, diseased countries. I wanted to travel the world, independently and nurture my sense of adventure. Being pregnant at 19 was not part of my plan.
Now, my daughter is turning 13 this year! She is a bright, beautiful individual with an even stronger sense of adventure than her mother. She is perfect in every way to me. She is the older sister to two rambunctious younger brothers, neither of which came along according to my plans. I have found that my plans for life have failed--time and time again! God's plans have prevailed.
Most recently, I planned to start a counseling internship in June of this year. Despite calling many places, and even interviewing at some, I have not been able to locate an internship. Things (again) are not going according to my plan. Do I know God has it under control? Yes...but the planner in me is going crazy.
What I have learned these past few months is that God has a plan, but it's certainly not my plan. His plans are good. I started thinking the other day about what my life would be like, had my plans all worked out. It would be drastically different from what I experience today. I would not be married to my husband, have my beautiful children, and I may have been dead by now--killed at the hands of angry people in a foreign country. I may have contracted some deadly disease (Ebola?)...or numerous other unpleasant things.
Although I did not plan for things to go this way, I have a very good life. I am happy, blessed and my life is full of unexpected surprises. These surprises are never part of the plan, but they have turned out to be the things in my life that I treasure most.
In the Bible, Joseph did not see being sold into slavery and kept in prison (for a crime he didn't commit) as part of his plan. It doesn't really talk about what his plans were, but he seemed happy to be working with his brothers and father at home. He made a mistake of telling his brothers about a dream that showed he would one day be in authority over them. This fueled their already existent envy and bitterness and turned his life in a direction that he never expected. They sold him into slavery. Although he tried to do the right thing and honor God, his life was constantly full of trouble.
Sometimes, I really wonder what he was thinking while he sat in prison, wrongfully accused. How did he not become overly discouraged and want to give up. Did he want to curse God for allowing this trial in his life? Life was not working out for him the way he planned. It seemed the whole world was against him, and no matter what he did, it didn't change his circumstances.
I have felt this way before.
But...Joseph didn't know the plans that God had for his life. His plans were to prosper Joseph, not to harm him, to give him a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). God knew that one day, through a single act of displaying the wisdom and knowledge of God, God would release Joseph from prison and place him in a high authority in Egypt. He didn't know that (through this position) he would be able to meet the needs of his family and practice supernatural forgiveness. He was given great honor and position, but none of this was his plan. It was God's plan FOR HIM.
Life throws us curve balls. Things don't work out according to our plans. Know this--God's plan for your life is always better and greater. He is positioning you for prosperity, to give you a future and a hope. His plans are never to harm you. If you feel like God has forgotten you, or doesn't care about you, or is seeking to harm you...just wait...the BEST IS YET TO COME!
Jeremiah 29:10-14 (NIV)
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Proverbs 19:21 (NLT)
You can make many plans, but the LORD's purpose will prevail.
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