When God’s Plan and Your Plan Don’t Match

Hey everyone! This is the second post in my series on my faith, the first of which you can find by clicking here. 🙂 Today’s topic is one that everyone can relate to, because we’ve all experienced it- when your plan and God’s plan don’t match up.

Recently in my life I went through something that propelled me to write this post. It was my inspiration for this and really got me thinking about God’s plan. That’s something I’ve always wondered about, as I think most Christians do at some point in their faith life.

What is it? Does God have a room full of billions of maps up in heaven, each one with one of our names on it, showing our path in life? It’s impossible for me to answer these questions, but I can share my own experience and hope that it helps someone else.

I have been a dancer for twelve years. Recently I tried out for a drill team. It was a difficult process that put a lot of stress on me. I worked really hard all through tryout week and dealt with the nerves and angst that always go along with any kind of tryout. At tryouts I did my very best and I knew that I had done all I could.

Later that night, when we got results, I learned that it wasn’t enough. I was so sad, and I cried for a long time. I didn’t understand what I could have done to make it besides my best, and it just made me so upset to think that no matter how hard I had tried, it didn’t matter. I just wasn’t good enough to be on the team. It is always difficult to swallow something like that.

Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, I talked to a lot of people. My sister, my mom, people who had made the team, people who had been helping me. And almost everyone said the same thing.

This happened for a reason. It was part of God’s plan that you didn’t make it.

When I first heard this I did not react well. I think my exact words were, “That’s not true. God wouldn’t make me this sad.” That was how I felt in the moment, but I can now see that God’s plan is much bigger than that.

I can’t explain His plan. I can’t make sense of it, I can’t untangle its mysteries, and I can’t find anyone who can. However, I can apply it to my life.

I don’t know what God’s reasons were for me not making the team. But I do know what Jeremiah 29:11 says, and I bet you do too.

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God has a beautiful and bright future planned for you.♥

My experience made me figure out, quick, how to deal with feeling like my plan had been trampled on and thrown to the side. I am by no means an expert on this, but now I’m going to do my best to give you a few ways to deal with letting go of your own plan and following God’s instead. Honestly speaking, this is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

Pray

There is a hotline that runs from your head to God’s. You can think and God will hear you. To me that is the craziest wonder of life and I will never get over the fact that when I pray in my head God. is. listening.

You don’t run out of prayers. You are not limited. You can pray anytime you want about anything. In this particular situation, here are a few things that I would consider praying about.

• Strength to let go of your plan.
• Acceptance of God’s plan.
• Belief that God’s plan is the right one, and that you put your full trust in Him.
• Understanding that we can’t always comprehend His plan.

Talk

As I said earlier, after I didn’t make the team, I talked to a lot of people. The best conversation I had was with my sister. After I talked with her, I felt ready to accept what had happened in my life and embrace whatever was coming next.

A few suggestions for who to talk to–

• A parent, or the parent figure in your life
• Your sibling (the older the wiser…just kidding!)
• A minister
• Trusted adult from school or church

Even though whoever you talk to probably isn’t going to understand what’s happening any more than you do, it is truly a great way to deal with whatever it is you are dealing with.

List

Whether you do it in your head or on paper, this is an amazing way to see the good in God’s plan.

Let’s take my example. After I recovered from the sadness of not making the team and I had accepted it, I made a mental list (though I think putting pen to paper would be better). The list was titled Good Things That Come Out of Not Being on Drill Team. Some were more funny, like I don’t have to wake up at 5:30 am. Some were more serious, like I will have less stress in my life this upcoming school year.

Each time I made another mental bullet point, I continually felt better. I started to see that so many good things were coming out of this. The idea of God’s plan became crisper and crisper in my mind and I could see the puzzle pieces of this-happened-for-many-reasons falling into place.

Look Ahead

From my experience, the most important part to dealing with realizing that God’s plan is better is to look ahead.

Maybe my life isn’t mapped out somewhere up in heaven. Maybe it’s like a board game- the roll of a die determines what happens next. Or it could be set in stone, and I’m stepping into it blindfolded.

Whatever the case, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I look to the future. I concentrate on what is it come, instead of what has happened. I know that my God- my loving, wonderful, beautiful God- is with me every step of the way and that He will not let me fall.

Being humans, we have doubts. We think that we know better- but the truth is, we don’t. Just because we believe something should happen doesn’t mean it will. It is hard to accept that we can’t always be right- but God can. Handing over the reins and saying, “Jesus, take the wheel!” is the best thing we can do in our lives.

I sincerely hope that this has helped someone, somewhere. I also hope that I managed to get my point across. 😉 I am thankful that I had the experience I did so I could share it with you and maybe even help you.♥ I would love to discuss this with you further in the comments, so don’t hesitate to ask questions or just tell me what you think. See you there!

-Olivia♥

P.S. Thank you for everyone who liked/commented on my last Christian based post! The response was overwhelming for my tiny little blog, and it meant a lot. 🙂

P.P.S. Do you guys like my new blog header?