Making Plans

I am a planner. I have a compulsive need to plan. Plan out meals, to-do lists, vacations, the future. I am not at all one to just let what happens happen. It drives me crazy. I am not a big fan of surprises or the unknown. I very much go by the motto that preparation breeds success. So I merrily go about my way preparing for what is coming up.

Unfortunately, we can't always prepare for what is coming up next. This season in our lives has taught me this. Never in a million, billion years would I have believed you if you had said James would lose his job. We had joked about how secure our jobs were and how nothing like that could happen to us. Joke was definitely on us. What is a planner to do when she can't plan? Panic (yeah, just a little), Cry (sure, did that too), Trust???(I'm getting there).

I have been thinking about Joseph's story in the Old Testament. Boy, did he have big dreams and big plans. He got that beautiful coat and God told him he would rule many. He was planning for a future that was very bright and big. Then - BAM! his own brothers sold him into slavery. Probably not on the to-do list HE had planned. But being a man of God, he made the most of it and God used him. So I am sure Joseph was making plans again for that great future he had dreamed about. Then - BAM! he was thrown in jail...and for something he didn't do!!! Where was the justice in that? Being in jail, certainly was NOT in his plan for a big and bright future. But then as the story goes, God rose him up from the jail cell and he became the second in command in Egypt and was able to help the Hebrews who were at this point on the verge of starvation from a great famine.

Joseph's story is so awesome to me. I love how what the Lord had shown Joseph about his future was spot-on, but the road with which it took for him to get there and what the end result looked like, only God knew.

When I was in college, a dear friend gave me a verse that I remember often.
"Many are the plans of a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21.

I love how the Message states this verse "We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails."

My goodness, I do so much brainstorming of options and plans. But even with that it is God's purpose that prevails. Now, I don't think that preparation is at all a bad thing. I think we need to prepare as best we know how with the information we have been given. But I do think we need to give the Lord ample room to move and direct and lead us on HIS path towards HIS purpose. In a word, we need to be flexible!

So as James and I are walking through this season of uncertainty we have really NO idea where God is leading us. We're putting things out there, but definitely learning to allow the Lord to lead. He has the plan, He is directing us and leading us.

What is amazing, is that I am actually learning to be at peace in the uncertainty. For I am CERTAIN of this. "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to PROSPER you and NOT to harm you. To give you a FUTURE and a HOPE." Jeremiah, 29:11 God's plans are incredible. So much more than I could ever imagine or hope for.