Why Can We Be Hopeful When Our Plans Fall Apart?

@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
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'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
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