When God Messes with your Life Plan

I found THIS article today that I have saved in my drafts for a couple months now.  I remember reading this article at the time and thinking it was spot on, but today it hit me even deeper.  So much of my life over the last 5+ years has been so incredibly different than I imagined.
As a little girl when I made dreams for my life it really looked nothing like the life I am living.  Almost on a daily basis I struggle to wonder why this is my story, why God has chosen to  not yet give me things I've always dreamed of, and why he chose me to live the life that I am.

But the thing I am coming to realize is who really does live the life that they dreamed?  The truth is we live in a fallen and broken world that is full of so much hardship.  Yes there is good, there is joy, there is sweetness, but often that good and joy and sweetness comes from the pain.  The pain that none of us would probably choose for our life if we got that opportunity to actually choose.

Right now I don't have to go too far to be walking alongside friends who are in season of pain, waiting, and un-met desires. From friends who are struggling in their career path, to friends who are walking through broken and hard relationships, to friends who ache for a baby but have yet to be able to become pregnant, to a friend who has a baby that was born with a very serious heart defect, to a friend who recently lost her dad.  And then I look at myself.   Although my story is different than my friends there is so much right now feels broken.   None of these things for myself or for my friends where part of the hopes and dreams that we think about when we are young...before life hits and we realize that maybe the story is not going to turn out like we thought it was going to.

But that is when we have to stop and look at the bigger picture.  To believe that God sees what we don't see.  And to believe that God has a greater purpose.  I studied the life of Joseph earlier this year and I was once again reminded how tight of a grip the Lord had on Joseph's life.  When everything seemed as if it is was "falling apart" in Joseph's life the Lord was working mightily.  Joseph never gave up faith in his unexpected life plans and the Lord turned evil and hardship into so much good.  God blessed Joseph in ways that he could never have imagined on those darkest days.  I want to be like Jospeh.  I want to be faithful through the twist and turns and I want to believe that there is a bigger picture.  There is a story being written that I can't see and that through every step of it God is present.  It may feel like he's not. It may feel like I've been forgotten, but as Tim Keller always says, "Jesus was forgotten so that we might never be".

I love this last paragraph of the article:

He Knows Exactly What He’s Doing

"The moral of the story? God really, truly knows what he is doing. He usually takes longer than we would like. He often leads us through strange territory. Sometimes he defers, or even destroys our dreams. But God, our loving, tender, delightful Father, knows exactly what he is doing. He is accomplishing more in you and through you than you could ever think or imagine.

Are you in a place you never expected to be? Has God taken you on a path you never would have willfully chosen? Take heart. God hasn’t deserted you. He hasn’t forgotten you. He hasn’t made a mistake. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He knows exactly what you need and where you need to be.

The truth is, God’s life plan is always better than mine."  


I know that it will continue to be a struggle to trust God with my life plans or to walk alongside others in the difficulties of theirs.  It's hard to trust in a God we can't see and to walk in darkness when when we can't see the light.  But as a life coach once told me, if you would only look behind you, you would see the red carpet of God's faithfulness in your life and if you just keep walking day by day in faith you will continue to see the red carpet unveiled for you at just the right time. "  I want to see the red carpet before I step, but that is not how God works.  And as painful and confusing as it may be God often doesn't choose the path that we want to go down to reveal that carpet of faithfulness.  But as Steven Altrogge says in this article "God's life plan is always better than mine."  I have to believe that.  I have to fight to believe that for myself and I want to be a friend who encourages others to believe it. It's the truth and the truth isn't always easy to believe or to understand, but either way it is still truth.  And God's truth is the rock we have to stand on in a world that is so incredibly broken.