God's hand: God's plan

Our plans got "rained out" last weekend. 

Don't you hate it when that happens?  I sure do.  You know, you've got everything planned out and scheduled and then something happens.  Sometimes it's literal rain, sometimes it's more figurative.  Our lives have been full of rain the last couple years.  Full.  Last weekend, it was more of a figurative rain, with the threat of literal rain.

We took the weekend "off."  We have everything planned.  Friday night, The Hubby raced home after his test and jumped in the car.  We headed off to Ohio for a busy family-and-fun-packed weekend.  We arrived at his parents' house at about 8pm and finally wrestled the kids into bed sometime around 10.  We stayed up another hour or so, but hit the sack pretty early in anticipation of the day ahead.  We had a morning 1st birthday party to attend as well as a late afternoon wedding.  Sunday would bring our annual trip to the Ohio Renaissance Festival.  The weekend was packed!  

Stinky woke up in the middle of the night vomiting.  Bugsy quickly followed suit.  We were repacked and back on the road home by 10am.  The weekend did not go as planned, but there were some definite blessings mixed in with all the turmoil, including a very poignant sermon about hope in 911 moments.  We certainly needed to hear that!

Fast-forward a week.  We'd decided that we'd still attend the Ohio Renaissance Festival, as it's our family tradition and we all love to go.  We talked about going as soon as there was a nice weekend free.  We watched the weather and this weekend looked even more perfect than last weekend!  Once again, we loaded up the suitcases, the car, the pillows, the kids, set up the kennel, and called a sitter for the dog.  The Hubby raced home after his test and jumped in the car.  We headed off to Ohio for a busy family-and-fun-packed weekend.  It felt a little like deja-vu!  This weekend went off without a hitch.  It was perfect.  It was beautiful.  

And God's hand was in it from the very beginning. 

You see, last weekend, our weekend was so jam-packed with fun and family that we couldn't find a single minute to squeeze in an always valuable visit with our good friends from college days.  We don't get to see them often enough, but no matter how long it is between visits it just feels natural, right.  This weekend, though, we had plenty of time.  During the week we'd talked and made a rough plan--a late dinner Friday night and a Sunday morning church worship date.  

There's something you need to know about our friends.  They are ALWAYS there just when we need them.  Always.  Over the past year, especially, when we've gotten difficult news or needed a shoulder to cry on, we've already had plans, in advance, to spend time with them.  Before we have even known we would need support, it was already scheduled.  You can't tell me God's not in that.

So we went to Ohio this weekend.  We had a lovely dinner on Friday night at Chick-Fil-A.  We were entertained by some a couple of crazy kids that kept insisting on calling our friends "mom and dad."  We talked about life.  We talked about the deep down, raw emotions.  That's the kind of friends these are.  We spent our Saturday enjoying our little family at the Ohio Renaissance Festival.  We had a great time!  The kids were fabulous.  The weather was gorgeous!  The day was perfect.  We talked about next year.  And then it was today.  Sunday.  We attended our morning worship date and enjoyed it.  The music was nice, the speakers were great.

We were invited to join our friends and the morning speaker for lunch at a national steak chain.  The conversation was such a blessing.  We were so honored to have lunch with a couple who are missionaries to Tanzania with Children of Promise.  They were so uplifting and encouraging.  They offered us words of hope and joy.  They promised to pray for us and keep tabs on us.  They became members of our extended family.

Had our original plans worked out the way we'd planned them, we wouldn't have met this couple today.  We wouldn't have had the joy of spending time with our good friends this weekend.  We wouldn't have felt the love and kindness that we did today.  God had a hand in this.

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It's like that, isn't it?  We make plans.  We make big plans.  And then we get all upset when they don't work out.  We're disappointed and discouraged when everything isn't "perfect."  We forgot that we can't see the "big picture," that we don't know everything, and that we aren't really in charge after all.  We get so wrapped up in our own scheming that we forget to ask God what He has in mind.  We get so set in our plans that we forget they might not be perfect plans.

You know what the Bible says, though?

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

We need to let go.  We need to ask God to be in control of our lives.  We need to ask Him what to do, every step of the way.  And sometimes, when we least expect it, God might just change our plans...on purpose...so that He can carry out His plans.

Because God is good.  All the time.