I was sitting at a skating rink while I read this chapter.  My daughter was making her way around the skating rink, not so successfully (lol), but it reminded me of when I was her age.    All the plans I made for myself.  I thought I would be a teacher or a nurse.   I thought I would get married young…. have a bunch of kids…. as I look back now, I was a teacher for a period of time.  I’ve taught Sunday school for many years.  I taught at a child care center for several years…. I taught music lessons for many years.   But I didn’t have my degree in teaching or nursing, but in Music.  I couldn’t have seen that coming back then.

But what I didn’t know then, that I do know now, is that God had plans for me back then.  Sure, I made plans for myself, but they weren’t God’s plans.   Married young?  If you consider 28 young, then sure!  Had lots of kids… well, not biological ones.  God only planned 2 for me.  Am I disappointed that God didn’t follow MY plans…no.  If I had married young, I would have married into a very verbally abusive relationship.   I wouldn’t have the children I have now.  I wouldn’t have the man that has truly blessed me so much as my husband.   Frankly, I like God’s plans better than I like mine.

I wasn’t a Christian yet back then either.    I started life down a path…completely different than the one God had planned for me.   But I like Stormie’s quote, “No matter how far off the path you have gotten from the plans and purposes God has for you, when you surrender your life to the Lord, and declare your utter dependence upon Him, He carves a path from where you are supposed to be and he sets you on it.  It may take you longer that it would have taken had you been on the right path from the beginning, but if you keep walking closely with God, He will get you where you are supposed to be.”

God wants us to have a clear vision for our lives.   He wants to reveal to us what each of our gifts and talents are and show us how to best develop them and use them for His glory.   That means letting go of our plans and replacing them with His plans.    I would never in a million years imagine working at the job I have right now.   That would have been the last thing I would have imagined doing.  But I feel a strong sense that it is where GOD wants me to be, and it is all a part of HIS plans for me.    I trust that the Lord will bless the talents he has given me in this line of work.   I feel so much more comfortable being in HIS will, not in mine.  Was it easy to take the steps to where I am now?  No.  It was very humbling because I had to take a HUGE cut in pay, but the blessings are so worth it.  To see all the children RUN to me daily when I walk into their room and just want lots of hugs and love….it’s SO much more rewarding.   I look forward to the future as long as I stay on God’s path…. not my will, but Yours be done, Lord.   Amen.