“Okay so if I’m at this place for this many minutes then I’ll have this much time for that, then I’ll have time for x, y, and z tasks then I will get approximately four hours of sleep and wake up at this time and I will start….”
This is how my brain works.
It works in planning mode 24/7, and that’s the only way it knows how to operate.
I plan every minute of every day, I plan every hour, I plan every year, and I plan five, ten, and twenty years down the road.
But ya want to know something I’ve noticed more recently that kind of stinks about this way that my mind works?
A good eight to nine times out of ten, those plans don’t work out.
I’ve been realizing this more and more recently. Several times per DAY my plans don’t work out for one reason or another, and I’m constantly problem solving and rescheduling and shifting things around so that I can move onto my next plan.
When some things didn’t go according to my “plan” today, I asked God why. All I ever want is for everything to go according to my plan, and I caught myself thinking this way today.
But then I heard this selfish way I was thinking.
There I was asking God for things to go MY way. To go according to MY plan.
And I asked myself who am I? A very imperfect human being who is asking God who has already mapped out my life according to His perfect plan, for things to go according to my imperfect plan.
And I remembered one time in particular that stuck out to me when things didn’t go according to my plans.
It was my Senior year of college, and I was auditioning for the aca pella groups on campus at Illinois State University. I was dying to be a part of one of the groups. I had pictured myself singing on stage with them, at rehearsals around the piano, and going out for late night dinners with who would become close friends of mine.
I remember both auditions went great, and the members of the group I auditioned for were blown away. I left feeling excited and confident that I would make it into the groups.
I remember praying though. That time in particular sticks out as a time I truly prayed for God’s will. I wanted so badly to be a part of these groups, but also knew my schedule was a busy, tight one for my last year at college.
I ended up not making it into either of the groups, and was so devastated. I didn’t understand why. I wondered where I went wrong in my auditions, playing them over and over again in my head.
Time passed and I moved on. A few months later I saw that a local community theater was putting on a production of the musical, West Side Story. I was ecstatic, nervous, anxious, and wanted to play the role of Maria more than anything in the world.
I went into auditions not knowing a single person.
I prayed to God once again for His will to be done, and that evening found out that I was chosen to play the role of Maria in the musical, that coming Spring.
Flash forward to almost two years later, and I feel so dang thankful God allowed for me to not make it into those aca pella groups. Because if I would have, I would have never been able to be a part of West Side Story, I wouldn’t have had the experience of a lifetime that I had, and I would have never met Lauren, who I met in the show and is now one of my very best friends.
God has a plan for us, friends. Each of us.
We can either choose to go by our imperfect plans that most of the time don’t actually make sense or won’t actually lead us to our fullest potential.
OR.
We can choose to follow God’s path. The path that He has formed and shaped for us to follow. Where each step is a step towards leading us closer to Him to have the end goal to one day enter His kingdom, where we won’t need a plan. Where we will be united with eternal, endless joy.
So today I’m choosing His plan. Even when I don’t know exactly where it’s going. I’m choosing it because He has never let me down and I know He will never let me down.
He is leading us every step of the way, every day. And if we take His hand, we will see all of the potential and opportunities that lie ahead.
xoxo
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