The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men...and God

  I just got done reading a sweet post on Facebook, and the lady was sharing about how she was struggling.  She mentioned how this blessed her.  Proverbs 16:9, "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps."  In my mind looking at this, it makes me think that we are not always the best planners for what we should do.  According to this verse, we should look to the Lord for our direction.  How can we know what God wants us to do?  Scripture!  If the plan you have doesn't line up with the Word, then chances are, it is not what God wants us to do.

  In our lives we have plans, right?  We have plans to graduate high school and either work or go to university.  Most of us have plans to marry and have children.  Most of us have plans that those children will marry and have babies and give us grandchildren.  Most of plan to live out our days, hopefully retire, and have happy lives.  What do we do, though, when a wrench is thrown into our plans?  Or what if our plans don't happen the way we wanted them to happen?

  We can look to the Lord for answers to how we can respond when our lives are not lining up with our plans.  First of all, we must remember that the Lord is in control.  Now, I am not saying to throw caution to the wind and do nothing -- we aren't sluggards!  We want to be ants!  But we must remember to look at our plan and then give it daily to the Lord.  There is a lot to be said about being able to live our days knowing that the Lord is in control.  It says in Matthew 14:28-29 "And why take ye thought for raiment?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;  they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."  Observe in the spring and even in the summer and fall the plants and flowers as they grow.  No one comes out and says to them it is time for them to grow.  They just do it because they are meant to do it.  They grow in their season and in their time.  God designed them that way.  And in just that way, God knows what we need and when we need it.  And I know you may be thinking that how can God allow cancer or unexpected death and tragedy to be in His time and for our good.  I have to say that is not an easy answer.  As I have had death, we all have, that was unexpected, I just had to trust that God was going to bring me through it to the other side.  And He has!  I seriously can look back on my life where there was a logical reason that I should not be here today.  That being said, my time is apparently not over.  God kept me here.  I like to think it is so that I was able to marry Benson, have babies, and then, Lord willing, be a Grandma!  But you see, those are my plans and not God's.  I have given control of my life to Him.  I live daily by faith.  I am not saying it is a flowers and hearts and happy songs, but I am saying that I give it to the Lord.  Giving Him control makes my life much easier!  I don't have to worry about what will happen because He is in control.

  The next thing about our plans is to...wait.  God has ways of answering our requests.  Sometimes they are instant!  He answers right away, and we know exactly what to do.  Other times, we have to sit and be still and know that He is God.  In Psalm 27:14 it says, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."  How are we supposed to wait?  In fear and trepidation?  No - with courage!  It tells us "be of good courage"!  That is not easy at all.  We have had times where we had to wait on situations with our babies.  We had to be told to wait and see.  How very heart-wrenching it was when we were told that only to lose those babies.  But we waited and were of good courage.  And the second part of that verse encourages us even more!  "He shall strengthen thine heart"!  In the Bible it tell us in Psalm 43:5 why be downcast?  Put your hope in God!  Don't dare put hope in man.  Man is fallible!  Man is not omniscient and omnipotent!  Put your hope in God!  

  And when it comes to our plans, the last thing that I want you to take away from this is the very fact that He loves you!!  I love when I come across scripture that ministers to my heart!  In Zephaniah 3:17 it says this, "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing."  He loves you and me!  Oh how He loves you and me!  He gave His Son so that we might not only go free but that we might live an abundant life!  Looking in this verse, I see that God is mighty!  He is mighty in our midst.  Loved one, He is mighty in your drug addiction, your unfaithfulness, your guilt and shame, your lack of faith, and your hopelessness.  He is mighty right now even when you have lost your job and don't know what to do!  Look up, child!  Look up, precious soul!  He is in your midst.  He is calling for you to come to Him and let Him rejoice over you.  We can know this one thing.  That the God of this universe that created all things seen and unseen, loves us and knows us by name.  The only thing that we have to do is to believe on Him. 

  I know this has been a longer post than I normally do, but it just was on my heart to share.  I often have a song pop in my head while I am posting.  This song, "Oh My Soul," by Casting Crowns, ministers right to our hearts.  It reminds us that we are not alone and to remind us that our plans may or may not work out, but that is ok!  If we are in Him, He is in us.  Give those plans and worries and fears to Jesus.  Leave them there at the foot of the cross.  And if you worry about them again, guess what?  You can lay it down again!  

  Thank you so much for reading these thoughts and listening to this song.  I hope you feel encouraged and loved!  I am sending you hugs and sending up prayers!  

Love, {{hugs}}, and blessings!!

Chandra