When Things Don't Go According to Plan

Tonight, I was trying to figure out what to do about supper. I really didn't want to go to the grocery store. We had the basics . . . chicken in the freezer, green beans, potatoes. But I didn't know how I wanted to cook the chicken. I started looking online for a recipe. The cool thing about recipes is that you can always substitute, leave something out, or add something extra. As I searched for a recipe, I finally found one that sounded manageable and something we would like. While I didn't use chicken thighs, like the recipe said . . . and while I didn't use the same amounts that the recipe suggested, I followed the basic idea of it.

I think in life, sometimes we have a "recipe" in mind, and it's easy to really get frustrated and even scared when the recipe can't work according to plan. Sometimes we have to adapt in different ways. In life, things just don't always work out the way we hoped, planned, or rehearsed them to.

I never really cooked before we got married. Fortunately, I must have a knack for it, because most of what I've made has been really good. But when I first started cooking, I never wanted to stray from the recipe. I was always afraid of messing something up. But I've realized, as I've learned, that sometimes straying from the recipe is a good thing. Often, it's just what is needed to have a knock-out dish.

I think it is very analogous to life. If we try to "stick to the plan" constantly, sometimes it will become difficult because the plan just falls apart. And when things like that happen, we need to have the wisdom and the courage to stray from the "recipe" and make it work. . . even if it means that Plan A has to turn into Plan B. And the turnout, often, comes out better anyway.

When Dreams Come True

When I read this, I fall to my knees in thankfulness to God. There was a time in my life when I wondered if this statement was true. I didn't have the family that I wanted. My life at home wasn't the "Christian" life that I so desperately desired. I hated my life in a lot of ways, and I loved God so much. And I couldn't understand why God hadn't placed me into a situation where my family lived the same life that I sought-one that led to heaven. I couldn't understand what I had done to "deserve" the punishment I felt like I was dealt. But I held on. I held on when I read this passage. I prayed. I trusted God with every ounce of trust I could muster.

It paid off. My dreams came true! The life that I am living right now is the life that I dreamed of as a young girl. I love everything about it. I love my husband. I love that he is a man of God. I love working so closely with the church. I love attending Heritage Christian University where I can learn more and more about God. I love the future that I dream of. I love the children that I dream of. I love the family that we have and the family I can imagine in the future. I love everything about it, and I have no one to thank for it but God. God has blessed me with this life that I live. I haven't earned it. But I am so thankful for it.

All those years ago, when I was so afraid that things would never change, God's promise held true. He did (does) have a future for me. His plans for me were (are) to give me a future and a hope. And He has blessed me in ways that I can never thank Him enough for.

I fall down in worship is I reminisce, awestruck, about the impact He has had and is having on my life each day that I live and each breath that I take.

Dear God,
Thank you. You have blessed me so richly. You have given me such a wonderful life. Your hand in my life has been so clear, so obvious, and so amazing. I am awestruck by your presence. Please help me to never take this for granted. Please stir in me, daily, a desire to live my life in a way that glorifies and thanks You for all that You have done. And please, God, if we are ever blessed with children, start molding me now. Do what it takes to turn me into the type of woman you would have a mother to be. And if we are blessed with children someday, give us wisdom to show them Your way. Give us wisdom to teach them Your way in a way that sticks, so that they will grow in the faith and be Yours forever. Thank you for giving me a future with a hope already. And I pray that the future with a hope that you've promised will continue to unfold in my life. And I pray that I will continue to recognize Your hand in it and give you every bit of the glory for it.
Amen.