Whose Plan?

It was a perfect plan, well-thought out and prayed over! Four years of university to obtain a teaching degree, first. Applying for grants, loans and employment on campus because my parents could not afford to send me to school. It all came together in a beautiful way!

The courses were tough, and I had to retake Applied Botany and Zoology, but I really enjoyed them, even the 2nd time around! I even took classes taught in Spanish, so that I would be proficient in that language for my next step, being a missionary teacher!

During my first year of university, I got involved with a Christian student club called Campus Crusade for Christ, mostly because I needed the fellowship of other believers to counter the secular culture on campus. My roommates were not Christians, and that was difficult for me, but I had the joy of leading two women in my dorm to Christ, so that was really worth it! I also met a lifelong friend, who struggled with roommate issues too, so we eventually moved out of the dorm together.

In my last year of university, the woman who discipled me, a staff member with Campus Crusade for Christ, challenged me to consider coming on staff when I graduated. I had really enjoyed discipling women on campus in my spare time, and my plan of being a missionary teacher had waned a little during the semester that I did a stint in both a grade 1 and a grade 5 class.

My first two years on staff were not what I had expected. I wondered if I had made a mistake, giving up my plan to be a teacher, but decided to ride it out another year.

I have now been on staff for over 40 years! So many times I have thought back, wondering what actually happened to my “perfect plan.” I have come to the conclusion that God had a better plan and purpose for my life, and it has taken me to places that I never would have imagined!

Each day is an adventure of making my plan (yes, I still love having a “perfect plan”), but then seeing what God does in spite of my planning. And it is always better!

Father God, thank you that you have a purpose for my life. Please help me to see that your plan is always better than mine, and teach me not to be discouraged, but to look for what your purpose is, each and every day. Amen.

Today's Challenge: Are you a planner, like me? What happens when your life does not go “as planned”? You can still plan, but hold that plan with an open hand to God, and see what he does with it!