Life gets messy. We can plan and organize, but things always seem to get in the way. I’ve always said, “if you want to make God laugh, just make plans.” Of course, we make plans anyway. We need to or otherwise, we drift. The only thing worse than making plans that have to be changed is not making any plans and not having a purpose or a goal in life. When plans change, we still get to make progress and we learn and grow. When we don’t have any goals, we just stay where we are or drift downstream. Which, in itself is a plan. As long as we consciously make the decision that we don’t care where we end up, that can actually be a beautiful “plan.” But most of us do care.
If we are being honest here, and I always try to be, I’ve done a little of both in the last few years. I’ve made plans, readjusted, and planned again. And other times I just wander through days on end without a purpose. I almost inevitably feel better when I have a goal for the day and set out to accomplish that goal. In fact, I have come to believe that we all need a plan. A goal. Truly, without a purpose, it begins to feel as though our life has no meaning and we get bogged down. One of the best things about what I do is helping people reach inside of themselves and find what their true desires are and then help them make the changes in their lives so that they can have all they desire.
The beautiful thing about the process is that it doesn’t have to be all or none. We can be working toward reaching our true desire and have all the joy that comes with actually having them. Just knowing what we want and believing we can have it, even if we are only making baby steps toward having it is so much more gratifying than feeling like we are wasting our time.
The problem with all of this is that sometimes the plans we make may not be consistent with what God’s plans are for us. I don’t know about you, but I have a tendency to although I ask God to help me to live in his will, I will push the envelope and try to make it happen my way or in my timeframe. Sometimes when that happens, he has no option but to pull the rug out from under me. That happened to me last week. If you listened to episode 19, you know I spent three days in the hospital at my little unscheduled “medical retreat,” as I’ve lovingly called my stay.
You see, I’d been making plans and moving forward, but then all of a sudden I had this pain that just kept getting worse and worse until there was no way to ignore the signs that I needed to get medical attention. What I hadn’t counted on was learning that I would very likely need surgery to correct the problem. Ah…Ok. Let’s do it. I’ve got work to do. Not so fast, says the doc. There are procedures, and timelines, and schedules we need to work around. We’ll let you know. WHAT??? Don’t they know I have a life, a business I need to run? Of course, they do, but let’s face it, it isn’t an emergency (thank God for that), nor is it life-threatening. So despite all the plans I had to create a perfect pre-Christmas program, it wasn’t going to work the way I had envisioned it, or at the very least in the timeframe I had envisioned.
At first, it was discouraging. I was filled with doubt. What does this mean? Do I need to change my focus? Am I supposed to change my program?
Something must be wrong! And then, as I prayed and meditated on the issue, it became clear to me that it just isn’t my time. I have other things I need to do, not the least of which is to give my body time to repair and heal. I loved how my coach said it, “Sometimes we need to slow down before we speed up.” We just need to pause and take a breath. Trust in divine timing. So once again, I’m learning to let go and surrender to God.
You see, so many things are beyond our understanding. We were not made to comprehend all of the ways that make the world go around or even what makes our bodies function properly. We do the best we can with the information we have at hand. We research, we study, we question, we search and then when we feel we’ve gathered enough information we make a decision. Throughout it all, we pray and we seek God’s guidance. Sometimes it can be scary, but knowing God is always with us makes it so much less so.
Sometimes it is best NOT to know everything. Truly, if we are to look at most situations in life, we’d get very frustrated if we believed that we had the whole picture because it just doesn’t make sense. We have to believe there is more going on behind the scenes than we don’t know about. We have to take comfort in knowing that there is a whole lot going on and we just have to believe that God is up to something bigger. And in turn, we just need to trust him, fully and completely.
It reminds me of a story I read years ago. When I did a search I found a version credited to Pastor Jack Hyles called God’s Embroidery. I hope you don’t mind if I share a slightly modified version of it here because I believe it puts all of this into perspective.
He says, “When I was a child, my mother used to embroider a great deal. I would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask what she was doing. She informed me that she was embroidering. I told her that it looked like a mess from where I was. As from the underside I watched her work within the boundaries of the little round hoop that she held in her hand, I complained to her that it sure looked messy from where I sat. She would smile at me, look down and gently say, “My child, you go about your playing for a while, and when I am finished with my embroidering, I will put you on my knee and let you see it from my side.” I would wonder why she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. Time passed and then I heard my Mother’s voice say, “Child, come and sit on my knee.” This I did only to be surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful flower or a sunset. I could not believe it, because from underneath it looked so messy. Then Mother would say to me, “My child, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre-drawn plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it. Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing.” Many times through the years I have looked up to my Heavenly Father and said, “Father, what are You doing?”
He has answered, “I am embroidering your life.”
I say, “But it looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem so dark. Why can’t they all be bright?”
The Father seems to tell me, “My child, you go about your business of doing My business, and one day I will bring you to Heaven and put you on My knee and you will see the plan from My side.”
I read that story years ago when I was going through some really scary events in my life and it brought a lot of comfort to me then. And it still rings so true to me all these years later.
You see, we aren’t meant to see and know everything. We just take the next step and have faith it will work out. The problem is, sometimes we get bogged down because we are unsure of the next step so we stay where we are. As I mentioned earlier, that in itself is a decision. If you feel you are being called to something more in life, you also need to take that next step in courageous faith and trust it will be fine.
The beauty of it is, that with God’s Grace if that step is in the wrong direction, he will correct us and help us get back on track. And we get to learn something from it. You can’t really get it wrong. Because we can always learn something new. So whether you are dreaming of making a big change in your life like a new job, or a small change like taking up a new hobby. Just do it. If you, like me, have some medical stuff to deal with, whether it is deciding on surgery or finally taking off some of those extra pounds. Gather the information you need, ask the questions about the stuff you are unsure of, and give yourself permission to start. Life is too short to live with regrets, so boldly follow your heart.
It will likely get messy along the way, but that’s ok because our creator has a plan. It may not look like your plan, but it’s a good one. So take that step and see what unfolds. You will be glad you did.
If you would like to see how I can help you with taking that first step. Or even discovering what it is your soul is longing for, let’s talk. I find so much joy in helping people become their best version of themselves. To be the person God created them for, so that they, too, can live in peace and know that its all ok and there is not one thing to worry about. We are exactly where we are for a reason and it will all be ok.
Thank you for reading this blog today. I know you are busy and I am always so grateful for your time. If you know of someone who might be encouraged by this, please share it with them. If you are compelled to do so, please leave a comment. I would really appreciate it. As always, you can also listen to this on my podcast as well.
Have an amazing day and go, live in courageous faith. It will revive your soul.
