Surrender Plans to God
“For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you
hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will
listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your
heart.”
– Jeremiah 29:11-13
Sometimes it seems that the harder I try to get
control of my life, the more my life is out of control. Anybody know what I’m
talking about?
It’s all those little things that pop up, taking my
plans and causing them to zig and zag until there’s no time left for what was
on my to-do list. I try to laugh it off. Some days I even succeed. But there
are those days when frustration gains a root hold that won’t seem to let go.
It helps to know that while I’m not in control, God surely
is in control. Nothing surprises Him. God knew the cows would destroy the gate
and take a section of fence down. He knew the dog would get sprayed by a skunk –
again. God understood that I would need to prepare food, attend a funeral,
visit a friend who just had surgery. He even knew I would have furniture orders
to get done in this high-humidity week.
I gave up trying to predict the future several years
ago. What was the point? I could never have predicted some of the things that
have happened. It’s a good thing. I think God sometimes keeps us in the dark
because He knows we’d never keep going if we knew what awaited us.
And, yet, when we surrender whatever it is to His will,
God always uses it for our good and His glory. That’s the kind of loving Father
God happens to be.
That’s the thing about trials. When there’s no place
else to turn, we turn to God. When we’ve done all we can, we turn to God. When
everything we once believed is crashing down around us, we turn to God. It’s in
the valleys that we truly learn who He is.
Oh, but we want the mountaintop, don’t we? Sure, we
do. But that’s not where we live. That’s not the real world. And while we enjoy
those experiences immensely, life is messy and prone to disruptions. We think
we’re headed in one direction and, almost without notice, we’ve changed course.
What happened? Life. Our plans are thrown out and we’re
struggling to stay afloat and there is God. When everyone else seeks higher
ground, there is God. When nothing seems to work, there is God.
A sweet friend said today that she’d finally found
true happiness. But – and this is a big but – it didn’t happen until she’d
surrendered it all to God. I’m not talking about salvation. She’s been a
Christian for a long, long time. It’s about trying to live life, make choices,
find happiness, without handing all your plans over to God first and trusting
Him with all of it. Once she did that, everything fell into place.
The truth is we can’t predict how our days are going
to turn out. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We can plan, and make
lists, and stubbornly hang onto our goals, but it’s God that determines our
steps. And they are good steps. Don’t miss that. God wants good things for us.
I’m learning how to roll with things life throws my
way. I’m getting better at trusting that God knows how it’s all going to play
out and that He’ll work it out however is best for me and for Him. He’s got
good plans for me and you. So seek His will and walk each step by faith,
trusting that He’s got you no matter what the day might bring.
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