When things don't go the way you planned
You know this happens all the time. Every day.
When we lived in Arlington, I called this "being thwarted". It happened to me a lot, with little children and trying to get places and do things and lots of moving pieces. It was a big struggle for me during that time, and I remember talking to our community group about it quite often because it always caused my sin to rear its ugly head and I would lash out at others around me in my frustration.
It can happen in big and small ways. The small, everyday ways are like this:
1. people aren't ready on time. Maybe it's you.
2. things take longer than you think they will.
3. cars won't start.
4. you can't find your keys. Or your shoes. Or your kids' shoes.
5. traffic is more than usual.
6. nothing is ever as clean as you want it to be.
7. people have unexpected tantrums. Maybe it's you.
8. you have a vision for how the day will go and it's goes all askew.
The big ways are more obvious.
1. you don't get the job you wanted.
2. someone gets very sick and you have to rearrange your life.
3. you have to fill in for someone at work at it makes everything harder.
4. your child has a disability.
You can come up with more. But my main prayer in those days was that God would help me to trust in HIS plan, that He was loving me even when I was getting thwarted. My plan wasn't the most important thing; He wanted to do something in me that would make me more like Jesus. Oh, and being thwarted is just the way of life. I think in America we are especially mad about this because we are used to things going our way and "making sense". I hear from friends who live in other countries, especially developing ones, and being thwarted is just a daily occurrence in ways that we cannot really imagine.
Jesus, even now, let our hearts find rest in you all day long, even as things do not go as we have planned.
When we lived in Arlington, I called this "being thwarted". It happened to me a lot, with little children and trying to get places and do things and lots of moving pieces. It was a big struggle for me during that time, and I remember talking to our community group about it quite often because it always caused my sin to rear its ugly head and I would lash out at others around me in my frustration.
It can happen in big and small ways. The small, everyday ways are like this:
1. people aren't ready on time. Maybe it's you.
2. things take longer than you think they will.
3. cars won't start.
4. you can't find your keys. Or your shoes. Or your kids' shoes.
5. traffic is more than usual.
6. nothing is ever as clean as you want it to be.
7. people have unexpected tantrums. Maybe it's you.
8. you have a vision for how the day will go and it's goes all askew.
The big ways are more obvious.
1. you don't get the job you wanted.
2. someone gets very sick and you have to rearrange your life.
3. you have to fill in for someone at work at it makes everything harder.
4. your child has a disability.
You can come up with more. But my main prayer in those days was that God would help me to trust in HIS plan, that He was loving me even when I was getting thwarted. My plan wasn't the most important thing; He wanted to do something in me that would make me more like Jesus. Oh, and being thwarted is just the way of life. I think in America we are especially mad about this because we are used to things going our way and "making sense". I hear from friends who live in other countries, especially developing ones, and being thwarted is just a daily occurrence in ways that we cannot really imagine.
Jesus, even now, let our hearts find rest in you all day long, even as things do not go as we have planned.
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