when things dont go as planned

Have you ever made plans, had it all laid out, studied and prepared, and been ready to put the plan into action, and then at the last minute, those well thought out plans fall through? Or have something go horribly “wrong”? It is really easy to get negative, pessimistic, and just plain ticked off when things don’t go the way you wanted them to. Isn’t that why kids have temper-tantrums? (Sorry mom!)
This is the story of our lives right now. We had our plans for the next two years of our lives and were ready to make the move, and do the thing. Or so we thought. But on Wednesday it all went “wrong”. Our plans fell through, with all the planning, thoughts, and our agenda going down the crapper.
Feeling lost in the midst of not having answers to the normal questions of “Why?” and “What now?” Liz and I had to get it together and begin the process of moving on to figure out the next step. Elizabeth Elliot, the wife of a missionary who was killed by the tribe of people he was trying to reach, said, “Just pray, and do the next thing that comes.”
Well, that is what we are trying to do. But also in the midst of this potpourri of emotions we are trying not to miss the big picture of what God is trying to teach us. So we are asking some tough questions, trying to learn about ourselves, about God, and what He wants us to do with our lives. We don’t want to miss the forest for the trees.
In difficult times, there is so much that God wants to say, if we are humble enough to listen and learn. Although we do not feel it, Liz and I choose to believe that God is in control, has something else that we do not understand, and has our best interest at hand.
Psalm 127:1
“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.”