These are not my plans

I have a planner. I spent $13.00 on it at Gordman’s because I thought it was cute.

I like to know what is happening. At what time. Every day. I like to be in control. So, whenever I lose control, I feel a bit crazy.

I say this to tell you that my life looks nothing like how I had planned it.

Here are what some of my plans looked like: I wanted to move away as soon as I turned 18. I was content with working a 9-5 job, and I had kicked around a few ideas of what I might do with the rest of my life. But ultimately, I was still undecided. I did not want to get married. And I never wanted to go to college. I didn't think I was cut out for it.

If you know me at all, you know that almost all of that is completely opposite now. Isn’t it funny how God works?

Growing up, my mother had a favorite Bible verse. It was all over our house. She would recite it when she felt anxious. She always said this verse was "God’s love letter to her."

It was a verse that was so engrained into my life, that I lost it’s meaning in my heart. You may be familiar with it.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jer. 29:11 ESV).

There have been times in my life when I have questioned this verse.

Something didn’t work out the way it was supposed to. Or my plans weren’t working out right. But that’s the problem.

They were MY plans falling through. They were never God’s.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you." Not "The plans that Jordon has for her life."

There have been many times, at least in my life, when I’ve tried to rewrite that verse. Maybe to read suggestions instead of plans.

This text does not promise us that we will have a say in the plans that God has for us. Or that we will know all of the details.

But it does promise us that the plans He has for us are good. That He has a hope and a future for our lives.

- Jordy