By Marlene Tavares
“I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”
(Jeremiah 29:11 MSG)
When I was 18 years old and preparing to graduate high school, I had my whole life planned out and it was going to be great. I knew which university I would attend, what I wanted to be, the age I would marry and buy a house and even how many children I would have. I was always a goal setter and determined to achieve my goals on my own time. Over the years, however, as I matured and things didn’t always go according to “plan,” I quickly learned that I wasn’t necessarily going to always get my way.
There is nothing wrong with planning certain aspects of our lives and setting goals for ourselves. In fact, this even helps us to work harder, stay focused, and keep ourselves reaching higher to be the best we can be. We need to also remember, however, that God also has a plan for us and our plan and His plan may not always exactly match up. I realized this when my own plans would derail and things didn’t go as smoothly as I wanted it to. For the most part, I can proudly say I have so far successfully accomplished my goals in life (although not in a time frame I would have always liked) and for any plans I had that fell through, I am confident it was not right for my life.
We oftentimes get so caught up with our wants and needs and fixate our minds so much on what we want that we forget that God knows best. If something does not go according to “our plan” it may very well still be going according to God’s plan. When something doesn’t pan out the way we wanted or expected we should not consider it as failure on our part but instead realize that it is part of a greater plan at work for our best.
God’s plan is like a movie. All the good and bad things are arranged together for the good ending.
-Wilson Kanadi
Rising with the Son 