The Joy Dare - Feb 19

Three gifts that were plan Bs
Very, very few plans in my life have come out exactly like I thought they would. Almost always there was a switch somewhere and the direction had to be changed. Life rarely turns out the way you think it will.
1. My plan A for life was to never have children...when I was 18 anyway. Now young people fill my life and have for a long time. I had three children in five years, I volunteered at their playschool and dance studion, I had a day home for 8 years with up to five extra children in my home daily, at one point I operated a private lunch program with 30 grade school children on my own, then became a lead lunch supervisor and the number grew to 190 with three other ladies. I volunteer with junior high in drama, have taken youth on trips around the world and shared that with my own children, I teach them, mentor them, feed them, love them, encourage them, pray for them....it is the joy and the ministry of my life. Um, pretty spectacular plan B.
2. My plan A for my first daughter in her pre-teen years, was this slow blossoming into womanhood where her and I would share everything...instead she hit puberty like a brick wall and ended up knee deep in anxiety and severe depresession. It was five years of hell...but in the midst of it my dependance on God became absolute...my surrender complete...my understanding of His love, mercy, grace and most especially peace overwhelmed me. If I had not traveled through the mire with my dear girl, I would not be the same woman I am today...and I like me the way I am...I don't resent it. It was a difficult but educational plan B.
3. I prayed for 20 + years for my parents to accept Christ...my plan A was to invite them to all the events, have faith conversations with them and they would have an epiphany in church one day and come to faith. I did the first things, but instead my mom got cancer. She got scared...and she came to faith, and it gave her peace until she died six months later. My dad remarried three years later...It was so difficult for me and not my plan A for him, but he married a woman who is a regular church goer...a good Christian church...and my dad goes with her...and we have spiritual conversations now. Not something I would ever thought would happen. I believe God worked and is working in my parents' lives. Would this have been the way I wanted it to happen? No, but I trust God (see #2) and I see Him at work. And I know where my mom is now...that's a good plan B.
Not all Plan B's work out so well, but I've learned to roll with the punches and the gentle maneuvering...and work with what God gives me. It's never bad to have a plan, but I've learned to hold them loosely, and be ready to give them up to another direction.