God’s timing is so remarkable.
I had everything planned out for my life. I was going to do this, this, and this, and then…BLAM! Things didn’t work out the way I imagined. I was waitlisted, suddenly stuck in this state of in-between, hoping for the best, trying to accept the change, and trying to reconfigure everything I’d planned in my head.
My head knew that not everything would go the way I had hoped, but it still caught me off guard. I stalled in my decision making, really unsure what to do. I wasn’t wholly surprised, but man, it threw SO MANY wrenches in my plans!
I wrestled with this from October until July. I had a few wins in between: I got this job, which is an enormous blessing and was a huge answer to prayer. I had time to really reflect on what I wanted in life. I met with a program director for another course I’m planning to do. I didn’t know what was going to happen, so nothing was firmly decided on. We decided to check in again in July.
July 1 rolls around and I get an email from this program director to see what I’m thinking for the fall. I read it and deliberate for a little bit on what to do. I then, finally, surrender my plans to God.
I went, “Okay, God. It’s in your hands. Things will work out the way they are supposed to, and if that is different than my plans, that’s okay.”
I sent a reply email on July 3, explaining the situation and getting ready to move forward in a different direction.
Lo and behold, the next morning I got an acceptance email from the program I was waitlisted on. I was left reeling a little bit. I prayed a bit, thought it over, laughed hysterically over God’s timing, and decided to go for it.
Then I remember the other email I had sent. I quickly sent another email explaining again what was happening…and noticing that this program director had unwittingly witnessed a pretty crazy answer to prayer in my life.
This of course left me with two months instead of ten to prepare, but in some ways, it was better. Of course, the week after I found out was VBS week, which is always pretty hectic, and then the week after that I was away…so I spent a month and a half stressing instead of the better part of the year, which left me with an overall smooth year.
All this to say, things have worked out pretty well for me. Now, this is not to say that if you surrender, God will give you exactly what you want. But what I do think it means is when we surrender everything to God, He steers our lives better than we can.
This isn’t quite in the vein of what I usually write in these segments. It’s definitely longer than I would usually do. I deliberated whether this should simply be something for Prayer & Sharing time, but I am often better at written words than verbal communication.
You all now have a chronicle of what I would consider a mini miracle in my life.
So be encouraged! God is always in control. Whether things work out exactly the way you plan, sorta the way you plan, or not at all, He is there to lean on and guide you.
