Plans Will Fail

I am a fan of exciting plans. I love to dream big and plan bigger.

But have you ever planned for weeks, pump yourself up and then… boom… everything falls apart?

If so, you too may have been a victim of the PFP [plans failed plague].

It stinks and makes you feel awful. And sometimes because life seems to bring so many failed plans, my soul dwells in these don’t-even-get-my-hopes-up-again thoughts.

The PFP is a little raw on my soul today. But, I’m finding comfort in this verse:

“God can do anything, you know — far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.” -Ephesians 3:20

According this verse, God can do anything. More than we could request in our wildest dreams. But when God does it, it’s not pushy. It’s like a gentle nudge.

I think a common reaction when our plans fail is to think God has somehow forgotten us. While my soul screams the truth that God never says, “Oh whoops… let that one slide, sorry Nicki!” my heart feels different.

How do we keep going? How do we keep planning? How do we keep dreaming?

When it just all never seems to work out?

I don’t have the answers to these questions today. I just know that even when we don’t want to get our hopes up again, God has not forgotten the deepest desires of our souls.

We have to keep trusting. We have to keep trying. And we have to keep going…

In Jesus, we are free. Free to question and free to doubt – but also free to trust and free to believe.

Trusting is gentle and takes time to understand. There’s a deep place in the corner of our souls where we go and decide, I will trust.

Our plans will fail, our dreams may feel like they are dying but may we remember how limited our sight is compared to what God has for us. We have to keep dreaming our wild dreams, doing what we can do and trusting God for what only He can do.  

So today I’m challenged to get rid of all my excuses that discount the power of God…

“I’m just not good enough.”

“This is too hard.”

“It didn’t work last time, so why try again?”

God’s never quit on me and that’s more than enough reason to keep going today. My plans may fail but my God, He never will...

 

Hold on to what is good, even if it’s a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe, even if it’s a tree that stands by itself.

Hold on to what you must do, even if it’s a long way from here.

Hold on to your faith, even if it’s easier to let go.

Hold on to God’s hand.

-Anonymous