@bethvogt
I love it when a plan comes together, don’t you? (Yes, an obvious nod to the A-Team.)
And when a plan doesn’t?
I scramble to scoop up all the falling apart pieces into my hands. Wanting to find a way to make my original plan work.
It was a good plan – or so I thought.
I’m not wrong. A plan falling apart doesn’t mean the plan wasn’t good.
My youngest daughter Christa made plans to live on campus this summer. She’d live in a dorm with her roommate, who also happens to be her bestie. Work a job. Work a budget. Experience a different type of independence from the go-to-classes and go-to-volleyball practice life they experience during college semesters.
A good, well-thought-out, prayed-over plan.
Then Christa was injured during volleyball practice in April.
Now her original plan for the summer has been replaced with a new one that includes ankle surgery, which means coming home to Colorado after finals and a summer of rehab.
A good plan replaced by the needed plan.
We’re still staring at the pieces of the original plan as we put together the new plan.
Back to my original thought: plans can be good … and still fall apart.
Because of accidents.
Because of someone else’s choices that somehow, someway, trump our choices.
Because sometimes, well, we simply change our mind.
God didn’t cause the accident that changed Christa’s plans for the summer. In the midst of all this redirection caused by an accident on the volleyball court, I’m remembering how often I’ve run across Proverbs 16:9 in recent weeks: “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.”
God does have an overarching plan for my daughter’s life – a good one – and his plan won’t be stopped by this unexpected disruption to her summer plans. Philippians 1:6 NIV tells me: “… being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Why Can We Be Hopeful When Our Plans Fall Apart? https://bit.ly/3nQWVmC #expectations #faith Click To Tweet 'If plan A doesn't work, the alphabet has 25 more letters - 204 if you're in Japan.' Quote by Claire Cook https://bit.ly/3nQWVmC #changes #hope Click To Tweet
Comments 11
Good wisdom and I totally love your graphic = 204 options in Japan? Outstanding, and probably enough to reach an excellent plan eventually …
Author
Isn’t the quote fun, Dee? And it has endless optimism and hope! Here’s to choosing good plans and to persevering when plans change.
And sometimes Plan A is just the starting point to opening your mind and heart to the possibilities that Plan D might hold. As you’ve said, the unexpected lies behind the doors we say we’re not going to open. For me, life would have been less rich if all of my Plan As had been successful.
Author
Oh, Barb, so well said: “… sometimes Plan A is just the starting point to opening your mind and heart to the possibilities that Plan D might hold.” Love this!
Praying for a quick recovery for Christa, and that the change in plans brings loved and fruitful blessing to her, and to all!
“The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
gang aft agley.”
Thus through the Scots language pen
did Robert Burns convey
the fact that plans, though set in stone
are subject to caprice
that tears the sinew, sunders bone,
and can leave life a mess,
but knowing this untimely fact
lets us succeed at length;
to change intention, suiting act,
can be our greatest strength,
but still I do not understand
what on earth mice might have planned…
Author
Oh, Andrew, I laughed out loud at what you wrote … and then read it out loud to my daughter, Amy, and to Rob. So well said, my friend. So well said.
A simple decision to go a different way home because I wanted a Chick fil a ice cream is what caused the devastating car accident that has caused me so much physical and emotional pain. God and my family and friends have helped me navigate the months and months of recovery.
Happy Birthday by the way!! 😉
Author
Gail: And sometimes the simplest decision has the most unexpected of results! Oh. My. Word. You have persevered. Had faith. I know each day has been a choice, a deliberate choice, to trust.
Thank you for the birthday wish! I love to count my blessings on my birthday — I have so much to be thankful for!
Sometimes, Plan A isn’t the plan we’re supposed to follow, so God intervenes with another.
Author
So true, Denise. Sometimes we’re so set on our plans, we don’t see this — and being flexible to the new plan is hard at first.
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