We know a couple in their mid-40’s. They’ve got three kids, the oldest is a senior in high school. Life was going along, pretty normally, and then…they found out they are going to go from being a family of 5 to being a family of 6.
Now of course they are very excited, but this is not how they would have planned things. It would be hard for me to imagine going back to the diaper stage at this age. It got me thinking about how God’s plan always may not be ours.
My wife and I thought we’d have more than child. We had our daughter, Camille … and it seemed that was it. We felt led to adopt and looked at local adoptions.
Doors closed.
Through some people we knew we were drawn to adopt a girl from Vietnam.
Doors closed.
We ended up adopting a boy from Haiti. I’ll have to tell that story sometime. But, the point here is what God had in mind for us was not what we imagined for ourselves. In our story and in our friends’ story the surprise is happy. I know that for many people God’s redirection of their lives can be a difficult, a bitter pill to swallow: the loss of a loved one; the dreaded diagnosis; losing a job. I would never want to minimize the very real pain you are going through if you are in a situation like that.
Proverbs 19:21 “you can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.”
If your surprise is welcome or exciting, this is easy to accept. If the unexpected change in your life is not, it’s harder. God is really big and because of that, even though we have the Bible which tells us so much about Him, He is still mysterious. But here are some things we do know. God is all knowing. God is all powerful. God is completely wise. God is completely good. God is completely loving. In fact, He loves you with such a sacrificial love, that He gave His son to die for you. You can trust Him. His plan is good. Even when it’s surprising. Even when it’s hard.
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