Best Laid Plans

What do you do when your plans fall through?

Do you throw in the towel and hang you head in despair?

Do you feel ashamed, angry and organise a pity party?

Do you feel the world and God have conspired to truncate your plans?

How do you think Mary and Joseph felt?

They were engaged to be married. Their plan was to settle down and have a small family and continue as "normal couple". Whatever that is.

Not only were their plans messed up, it felt like the whole world was against them, the king was after them, their families must have ostracise them. They may have asked themselves a thousand times Why God, why us? They didn't understand it then but later did.

Just like Mary and Joseph your plans for 2008 may have fallen through. Your dreams became your worse nightmare, you feel you’ve been badly messed up and you really can't understand what God is up to and you would love to understand. Some things that happen to us are not God's perfect plans for our lives, true. Things like Sickness, rape, injustice, war, hatred, e.t.c. these are not his perfect will. So when things are not going according to God's plan for our lives he changes our plans.

According to Rick Warren, when God changes our plan he is trying to do 3 things in our life

1. Get our attention. In our pain God speaks. Seek him through whatever you are going through and you will find him.

2. He has a better plan. He doesn't change your plans unless he has a better plan. Just as he did for Mary and Joseph -His is bigger, better and more rewarding than ours. It may be harder sometimes, but it is better. Mary and Joseph's plan turned out right after all and they later understood what God was up to. That is why we are here today celebrating God's perfect plan for Mary and Joseph's life.

3. He wants us to learn to seek and trust him through the changes. Seek him for his perfect plan for your life in 2009. If you are worried about 2009, anxious about the current economic situation or any other situation in your life, trust him to bring his best plan to pass for your life and our Nation. Seek him, not the solution to the problem or an explanation to the situation, but when you seek him for who he is as a saviour, he comes and brings with him the solution and explanation.

As you celebrate today, ponder in your heart the gift of God's dear son to us. Look to the future with hope and believe that in 2009 he will bring his perfect plan for your life to pass. I urge you to seek his plan for your life and not your plan for your life because his plans are the best laid plans.

My will for yours given in surrender

My choices for what you choose letting go of self

My desires for what you want only your best will do

Lord my everything for all of you.
© Deboo December 2008

Pictures by "photobucket"