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| Oct 2007 |
I'm sure you've all been there, sorting out the checkbook and day dreaming about a vacation. Maybe sorting through bills that should have been paid off long ago. I do it regularly: I make a 5 year plan. If we stick to this budget, if we do a few projects, if we wait patiently, if we work hard.... In 5 years we will: be able to buy the dream vehicle, be able to go on the dream vacation, be out of debt, we will finish the barn into a recreation room, etc. etc. etc...
The only thing I can count on about the 5 year plan, is that something we didn't plan on will happen in about 5 months, and there will be a new plan. Often, I get frustrated with how my plans aren't working out and I try and scheme up a way to fast-track the plan. This time last year I was interviewing for a job. I was going to work for a year, maybe even 5, and see if we couldn't get to a better place with all these plans. But as I began thinking about office attire, and business networking, I also got to thinking about what schools I prefer, as working and homeschooling wouldn't work out... and I got to thinking about my kids spending 8 hours a day in separate classrooms, never seeing each-other, and I got to praying about it... and God got a hold of my plans.
Isaiah 55:8-13“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
So is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”
His ways are not my ways? Higher? How does that work? I called my interviewer and let them know I was going to pass on the job. That was hard. A year later, I have no regrets.
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| Oct 2007 |
Well, when I turn my plans upside down, I can see it better. Five years ago, if you had shown me a snapshot of the life I live now, and said "How does that look for a 5 year goal?" I'd have been SUPER EXCITED! I lived in a trailer-home in the middle of a small town. A farm? In the country? At the time I had a newborn, a toddler, and two kids
just starting school. To see
them all in (home)school now, and independent? Really?
Yes. Please!
How funny to me that this life I'm planning to
change (in a 5 year plan),
is exactly what I would have dreamed of... 5 years ago.
Oh, and never-mind all the things I miss about 5 years ago! LOL
Reading through my old blog posts from 5 years ago, I am amazed. Were the kids ever so little? How much time has flown! If I had gone to work last year, sure, I'd be in a nicer car, but would I have noticed I was missing all this? Not for anything.
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| Oct 2007 |
Job's friends once questioned God's plans, and God responded,
showing Job all the ways He is in control of all things...
Job 42:1-6 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
"I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
It is so humbling to see our plans contrasted with the awesome things God has in mind. Even just a glimpse, and one of the most faithful men in history was humbled to "dust and ashes."
Thankful for the blessings He plans, and for 5-year plans that never materialize...
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| Oct 2007 |
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans that I have for you,’
declares the LORD,
‘plans for welfare and not for calamity
to give you a future and a hope.
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