Planning Patiently

Do you ever wish you could be in control of your own life – to not only have things nicely planned out, but for those plans to always work out? I’ll confess that sometimes I do.   Attempting to plan my own life is a bit like a sport to me, as I am constantly coming up with new colleges I might attend, different specialties I could have, places I want to travel to, or ministries I might get involved in. My family members have learned to brace themselves a little when I announce, “I have an idea . . .” However, if I look back on the ways God has actually worked in my life, I realize that the experiences I have learned to most from or enjoyed were not really things I planned, but just “happened”.

For example, some of my favorite trips were my Grand Canyon excursion (obviously, due to the great quantity of posts I’ve written about it), the 30-hour vacation to California one spring in the middle of the week, and the quick trip to Woodward Oklahoma to see the Stegosaurus project I had contributed to where nothing really went according to plan. Of course, the Grand Canyon excursion had to be planned well in advance, but what most people who know me don’t know about this excursion is that it was actually a “Plan B” that turned out to be way better than my silly “Plan A” ever could have been. A day trip to California from Texas, really? Yes – it was the most fun least sleep I have ever had on a family vacation. As for the Woodward trip, which I did not intend to even go on until two days before I left, we laughed a lot about all the silly little plights we managed to get ourselves into within just 24-hours.

The same concept usually applies to my bigger “plans” that determine the course of my life. I am often puzzled when God shuts a door, but later realize that it was all a part of a much bigger plan than I could have ever imagined. As I have begun to encounter intimidating crossroads, realizing that the decisions I make now will probably influence me for the rest of my life, I have come to understand that the only plan I want for my life is God’s plan.   Yes, I enjoy coming up with ideas and plans (perhaps you do too) and God often uses those ideas, but I have learned (and am still learning!) to hold my dreams with an open hand. Yes, it’s a scary thought not knowing what is around the corner, but it is also an opportunity to trust God, pray, and remember His goodness in the past. I hope that my stories encourage you to trust God with your plans, whether they be for a summer vacation or the rest of your life.