The best made plans...



One of the many benefits of being self-employed, I am slowly realizing, is the fact that I have many more "stolen moment" opportunities with my daughter. I have more flexibility now so I can drive her to school during exam time, pop in to the local coffee shop for a 'cuppa and a natter', and generally connect a lot more with her. This is not to say that we didn't connect when I was employed full-time, it's just that the pressure is off and the pace is now a little different {for now anyway:) }.

During a recent 'stolen coffee moment', Ash and I were discussing things of the heart and how at a certain age, you imagine how your life is going to turn out. So when you're 12 going on 13, you picture your teenage years a certain way and either look forward to the adventure or not (as is so often the case). And then when you're 17 going on 18, you start imagining what your 'varsity' years are going to be like. And so life goes, always imagining how the next phase in your life is going to pan out.

The question is: does life ever turn out how we imagined it would? Not from my experience. For me personally it has it has turned out a darn sight better than I ever imagined in many ways, but in some ways not at all how I thought it might. But what I keep telling Ashleigh-Jade is that... God knows. A favourite scripture (Jeremiah 29 v 11) reminds us  'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope'. Many people stop there, but if you read on to verse 12: 'In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me, when you seek me'. That's the key people... God has plans for us. Good plans. Great plans infact. And when life gets hold of us and plans don't quite work out the way they should, press in to God! You WILL find Him!

Often when our plans don't pan out the way WE want them to, we shake our fists heavenward in frustration. But, perhaps in time we realize why things worked out the way they did. Or perhaps decisions were made without much 'seeking of God's will'.

All I know is that we should never stop dreaming... Sometimes those dreams turn into reality, and sometimes they don't. Our happiness should depend solely on our dreams coming true because perhaps God has something better in store for us, something we hadn't even had the audacity to dream about! And sometimes He has plans for us that will guide us and direct us down a certain path for reasons unknow to us at the time.

After chatting about this with Ash, we both agreed that God knows the end from the beginning, so we should seek Him, trust Him and rest in Him.

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