Making and Breaking Plans

The chairs rattled as a a line of men marched past me. A few minutes later my 5-year old joined the procession with a chair of his own. To my left, a small group huddled in the hall next to a window. One man, with his Bible open, stood up front.

The lights may have been off, but the Light of the world still shone bright.

An evening storm knocked out power to the church building, but people gathered for worship anyway. This day we’d sing with the birds!

I laughed at the sight of my 3-year old hunched over a dirt pile next to the chairs. Yes, he should have been sitting, but the nature of this morning led my heart to let him play … right up until the time I saw him sneak a few bites of mud. (And all of us mothers make that yuck face and collectively say Plllhhhh!).

My daughter shed her shoes. Gravel didn’t bother her. My 9-year old son bellowed as loud as his little lungs would let him, On Christ the Solid Rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. And with a grin as big as the sky above us, I settled back in my chair and thanked God for running us out of that building.

What looks like disaster, can taste like delight.

The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9 (NASB)

I like to have my ducks in a row. I like to know where the ducks are, where they will be going and how I will keep them in their row as we go. But, God doesn’t always let me in on His plan prior to its arrival, which leaves me chasing my ducks and ushering them back into the line I pre-determined they should walk in! All the while, God plans a blessing.

Blessing was not my first thought, when the phone rang that snowy April afternoon 11 years ago. The word “trade” never entered my mind until that day, but I became quickly acquainted with the term. The Cleveland Browns sent Luke to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 24 hours later I boarded a plane with my husband and everything from our climate to our comfort zone changed.

At 8-months pregnant, I enlisted family to help move us and called a doctor to introduce myself. We learned new roads and scouted out a hospital. We found the grocery store and wondered if we’d ever have friends again. I unpacked a few boxes and set up a crib while Luke navigated his new workplace.

In the quiet moments I remembered the home in Ohio that we left so abruptly. That place where my ducks lined up so nicely. The place with neighbors I knew and a nursery I worked on for months. The place where I had plans.

‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD.” Isaiah 55:8 (NASB)

Often times, when our plans go up in smoke, we can feel the warmth of our Savior.

Tampa turned out to be my favorite stop so far. With friends more like family and a church to call home, the Florida sun dripped like golden drops of honey, a taste sweet to my soul.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with making plans. But on that day when they all go awry, consider letting your ducks run wild. Drag chairs out to the parking lot. Let the kids go barefoot and play in the mud. Sing uninhibited at the top of your lungs.

God might just have planned it that way.

Leave a comment! Tell me about a time your plans went up in smoke and led you to the warmth of your Savior.