When Life Doesn’t Go According to Plan: Guest Post with Debut Author Melissa Tagg

My novel, Catch a Falling Star, asks the question: Is life about accomplishing plans … or wishes coming true … or something more? 

Today’s post is the fourth in the “When Life Doesn’t Go According to Plan” Wednesday blog series, 11 guest posts by authors and writers, including Deborah Raney, Rachel Hauck, and  Susan May Warren,  who explore the question: What do you do when life doesn’t go according to plan? Today’s post is by my friend, debut author Melissa Tagg.

One of the approximately one bazillion things I love about Beth Vogt is a line I’ve heard her say many a time: “God’s best often waits behind the doors marked ‘Never.’”

Ain’t that the truth. Some of my biggest “uh, life really isn’t going according to my plan” experiences have included those very doors.

I never want to give up campus life and study abroad, she says to a professor. (She would be me. I guess we’re going third-person for a couple seconds here.)

I never want to work at a small-town newspaper, she tells her friends.

I never want to leave small-town life for a bigger city, she decides post-college.

Well she had a blast in London, swears newspaper reporting is the best-ever job for a wannabe author, and moved to the big ol’ metropolis of Des Moines a few years ago.

I’m so convinced my “nevers” are triggers for God’s LOLs I’ve taken to saying things like:

I’ll never need endless free time to write and read and watch old movies.

I hope I never marry someone who will be okay with all my quirks—love of flannel and peanut butter and Coldplay included.

I never want to time-travel to interesting points in history.

Reverse psychology on God. I’m sure he gets a kick out of that. (I’m particularly hopeful He pays attention to that last one. Hello, Gilded Age!)

All joking aside, every time God has taken one of my “nevers” and turned it into a “been there-done that” situation, I end up awed. Every. Time.

And yet—let me get painfully honest for a minute—I’m a still a little scared of some of my lingering “nevers.” No, not the silly things I listed above. But actual nevers like:

I never want to live far away from my family.

I never want to receive bad book reviews.

I never want to spend another Valentine’s Day unattached. (ouch)

I never want…to fail. (double ouch)

I could go on. Why? Because I’m a planner. Because I tend to think I know what I want and don’t want. But hasn’t life taught me over…and over…and over that my plans, most of which include this or that never, tend to be pretty short-sighted compared to God’s?

And hasn’t He proven over and over again, that I can trust Him?

That even if every never I’ve ever dreamed up turns into a reality, He’s on my side.

That He is good. And faithful. And in fabulously good control.

 And isn’t it true that when life doesn’t go according to my plan, it’s probably a good thing? Because my plan A may feel awesome…but God’s plan B is always, always better.

What “nevers” have turned into realities in your life? When you look back, how have those experiences shaped you and/or your faith?

What “nevers” have turned into realities in your life? Click to Tweet

Do you believe God’s best is behind the door marked “Never”? Click to Tweet 

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Melissa Tagg is a former reporter turned author who loves all things funny and romancey. Her debut novel, Made to Last, releases from Bethany House in September 2013. In addition to her nonprofit day job, she’s also the marketing/events coordinator for My Book Therapy. Connect with Melissa at www.melissatagg.com and on Facebook and Twitter(@Melissa_Tagg).

When Life Doesn’t Go According To Plan Goodie Basket Rafflecopter Giveaway: I’m putting together a collection of goodies — including books by Rachel Hauck, Deb Raney, and Cynthia Ruchti — & the reader-suggested chocolates, a journal, a Starbucks card … and more. Click on the Rafflecopter link to enter.