Sometimes I have to go back to my own words. I know that God keeps His promise, but his will for our life may be different than what we (think we) want. A few months ago it became very clear that some of my plans were not going as planned. I re-read this excerpt from my book that I wrote years ago about a lesson God revealed when something else didn’t go as planned – “Where’s the Map?” I looked my eyes up to the Lord, and just surrendered my plan to Him. I realized in that moment that as much faith as I had, I absolutely had to be open to God’s vision for my life, to God’s plan on how He wanted to use me to serve others and glorify Him:
I”ll never forget when I was in high school my family decided to take a road trip to North Carolina. My father is very reminiscent of Chevy Chase in Family Vacation, so he was super-excited, planned every detail, and had itineraries, maps, and roadstops all mapped out ahead of time. What he didn’t figure into his calculations was the fact that we would all fall asleep during the ride, so he didn’t have anyone to help navigate.
A couple of missed turns, and we were in the car for an extra couple of hours!! Now, I’m sure he wasn’t the happiest when he was trying to figure out how to get us back on course, but, what happened was we ended up near a place called “South of the Border” 2 hours later right when it opened. In my father’s original mapped-out plan, we would have never made it there- we would have been too early. As it turned out, our family had an absolute blast at the place that we may have never got to if his plan worked perfectly.
I think, in life, we all try to do this in some way, shape, or form. We work hard, we plan, we think we know exactly where we’re going. But I believe sometimes ‘life’ happens best when we get lost. I believe we learn the most lessons when the unexpected happens. I think we connect more to each other, to nature, to real happiness when we are left with a “failed plan.”
It’s great to have a vision- where we want to go, and of course, taking (and somewhat planning) the steps along the way. But, the next time your roadmap takes you to a detour that throws you off course, trust in the absolute power that life has a beautiful way of unfolding perfectly as it should, and if you hold tight to your faith, and trust in God, the map may just be revealed one step at a time. And the journey will be more amazing than you could ever plan.
