Back in the day, wwwwaaaayyyy back, when K and I were about to get married we made plans. The plans that any soon to be married couple makes. The plan that stands out in my mind as the most concrete of our ideas was our moving plan.
When K and I met we were both in college. We got married while still in college so most of our plans revolved around what we were going to do after graduation. During this time of endless possibilites the "Two Year Plan" was made.
Back then neither of us were a fan of the town that we were living in. We had both moved around a lot growing up and our fair city was the smallest that either of us had lived in. We were itching to get out of there. To escape the mundane.
Two Years. In that time, we figured that we would both graduate and be ready to move to the big city and live the life. The life that we thought we were supposed to live. What that life was I'm not sure, probably something along the lines of working, buying a house and having kids.
Then the life that we were supposed to live happened. I got pregnant with Adison and my plan on graduation and such got pushed back a bit. During my pregnancy we bought a house.What we thought was a great house according the inspection that we had done it. The house, not so good, we ended up pouring our savings into it and well, you know how it goes, it happens all the time. I took a semester off to have our tiny miracle and then was ready to finish school.
After a few years we planned on having more kids to give Adison a sibling. But then the miscarriages started happening which was certainly not planned.
We still planned on moving, on growing our family, on I don't even know what. Plans plans plans.
The thing that I had failed to factor in was God's plan. He had a plan for us all along. Our plans pale in comparison to the plans that He has laid for us.
For I know the plans I have for you, declare the Lord, plans for welface and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
To this day we are still living in that small house. We have three kids. We are living out the plans that God has for us. We are riding that roller coaster, strapped in and embracing it. Smiling in the good times, crying in the bad times all while remembering that we are not in control of it. Surrendering to the one that it and finding comfort in that knowledge.
My point I guess in all of this is that I have stopped having set plans. For me they never seem to work out as planned. Instead, I have hopes, goals and dreams for the future. We keep plodding along, putting one foot in front of the other, together.
I came to your blog through My Little Life's 5QF... and I just have to tell you that this post really ministered to my heart. My husband and I move our lives two states away to help a family we knew start a church. We lost a lot in the process. Then in March the pastor called everyone in the church the night before the next service and said the church was over and that they had decided to move a few hours away to pastor a more prosperous church. When we told them we didn't agree with the way they were handling things, they informed us that we were not welcome to come with them (not that we would have wanted to, but still,...ouch!) Anyway, now we are stuck here, without family, without a church, without much of anything. We've been praying and knocking on doors for 6 months only to have them slammed closed. We are now 3 weeks away from having to move out of our house, with no leads as to what (or where) is next, and we just found out baby #3 is on the way. Life has certainly not gone as planned. So, thank you. Thank you for the sweet and gentle reminder that God is in control, and to "embrace the roller coaster." Many blessings to you and your family.
ReplyDeleteI love it! you are SO right. We are following Gods plan for our life. We can have goals, but God has the perfect plan already laid out for us...HE knows what is best, all we have to do is get on board and follow. Praise God when we can do that even through the hard times! :)
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with this post more! God has really be showing me His Will in the last few days with everything going on in our lives, but I just remember that God does know the plan he has for me.
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