God Already Had a Plan

Let’s be honest, we have all done it. Someone comes to us with something going on in their life, we want to give them comfort, so we look at them and say, “I’m sure God has a plan”. We walk away hoping that they feel better and that everything works out. Chances are, we never hear how the story ends. The situation gets resolved and everyone moves on. So, did I do my job or not? I listened, I gave words of comfort. I directed the conversation to God. What is the harm in not following up?

Do I believe My Own Advice?

I love the YouVersion bible app! I’ve done really well going on there every day and doing what they call the “daily refresh”. I encourage everyone to check it out. Recently a man was on their talking about the experience he and his wife had with adopting. The process was so frustrating that they decided to get away to try and regroup. While on the trip they spent the day just crying and coming to grips with the fact that maybe adoption wasn’t the answer. He said the day they spent crying was the day that a young woman chose them to adopt her baby. God already had a plan! It’s so easy to tell everyone else that God has a plan, but when we are in the middle of a bad situation, sometimes we are guilty of thinking we are all alone. The more we follow-up with people to hear how their story ends, the more we see that God has a plan. Not following up might not have an impact on the person that we gave the advice too, but it probably does have an impact on us.

Struggling to Finish

This year has been a struggle from the start. Now that it’s almost over, it’s not getting any easier. Over the last few weeks, I have had doctor’s appointments, my wife hasn’t been feeling the best. I’ve had work issues, vehicle issues and overall, I’m just tired. Every time a new week or month starts, I try to be positive. But it feels like by Tuesday or Wednesday I’m off track and just trying to make it to the end of the week. I tell myself I need to read the bible and pray more, but everything is so crazy I settle for the bare minimum. I know deep down I believe that God already has a plan, but I’m too busy to try and find it.

Be Still

A few years ago, we had a lady in our church pass away. Her favorite verse was Psalm 46:10, it starts off with these words, “Be still, and know that I am God!”. It’s easy to say that we are busy. It’s easy to say that we need to do a bunch of things. It’s not always easy to be still. I heard someone say once that when you are afraid of silence, it’s because you don’t want to hear what the voice in your head is telling you. Most of the time that is good advice. We have a lot of negative thoughts in our head. The problem is that if we don’t turn off the noise, we can’t hear God either. We keep trying to handle everything on our own. If we turn off the noise, we have to hear the voice in our head telling us that we are failing. If we can just get past those few moments of negativity, something beautiful is on the other side. It’s a different voice, a quieter voice. It’s telling us to be still and listen. It’s telling us that God already has a plan, trust him.

When I Finally listen

When I decided to be still and listen, this is what I was able to see. A few weeks ago, at work, I had a situation I didn’t want to face alone. The person I had to talk to had been off and when they came back, I was going to be alone, I had to do it. The day was coming when it was going to need to be addressed, and I knew I wasn’t ready. It turns out she was sick that day. Someone in her family had gotten sick earlier in the week and gave it to her. That one-day delay changed everything. Everything was handled and everything worked out for everyone involved. That means that when I was worrying the most, when I wasn’t listening, God had already taken care of it. God already had a plan. Last week my brother-in-law went hunting with a friend fairly close to our house. They came by and had lunch with us and some other family and then went out to hunt. A few hours later we got a call that he had been hurt and had to go to the emergency room. In the end, lots of blood and a broken finger. Where was God you ask? Well, the week before when the other family was supposed to come over, something came up and they couldn’t come, so they delayed it a week. Usually, they would have left already when the phone call came in, but they had something going on later that night, so they stayed later than they normally would have stayed. Why does all that matter? Well, we live in a small town, with a small hospital that can’t always do everything. Because the other family members were there, they were able to stay and get the x-rays and then take him to a bigger hospital. Where was the bigger hospital? Well of course it was by all their houses, an hour away from our house. God already had a plan. Being sick, a delay in coming over, those aren’t coincidences, that isn’t luck. That is God’s plan! This week, slow down and listen. Instead of focusing on the craziness, take a few moments to talk to God. Pray that you will trust him and see his plan.