Beautiful Beginnings

Sunset over our new neighborhood.

Five years ago, my husband and I stepped out into a new journey with absolutely no idea how drastically our life would change.

We built and moved into a beautiful new home in a small, rural town and fully expected it to be a place for our family, friends, and church family to gather.

Turns out, God had other plans.

I’ve heard a quote that says something like, “If you want God to laugh, tell Him your plans.”

I don’t know about you, but thinking the God I’ve entrusted my life to laughs at my ideas feels more than a bit condescending. And that’s not the kind of god I would ever want to trust.

Rather, I think He is more likely to say, “I know the plans I have for you. Plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

He knows well that we might not understand the path His plans take, especially when our plans feel like they are destroyed before they can ever begin.

When we built our new home, we were so excited to share it with the people we thought were closest to us - only to find out that after twenty years of friendship, we’d been excused from their life with little more than a “thanks for the memories.”

Within weeks after moving in, the space we’d expected to fill with friends, joy, and laughter was instead saturated with loss, grief, and anger.

The sudden loss of people we’d called friends and a community we’d invested much of ourselves into was so blindingly painful, we folded in on ourselves for a long time, and the first years in our new home were spent in near isolation, and would have been even if the world had NOT shut down for months.

Looking back, we can clearly see that He moved us and removed us from our original plans so that our eyes and hearts would be opened to things we were too close to see. And in the subsequent years, He has healed us in ways that would not have been possible had we remained where we were.

So, do I think God laughed at our plans when we told Him about the Bible studies we wanted to host, or the nights we wanted to spend gathering around a table of food to do life with friends? Do I think He laughed knowing His perfect plan would leave us so devastated?

No. I believe He wept with us.

We do make plans - sometimes really good ones - but ultimately, it is He who directs our steps. And now, looking back over the heartache and pain of these last five years, it’s abundantly clear He was directing our steps long before we planned to build the new house.

Please trust me when I say God does not laugh when you tell him your plans. He may very well guide you step by step toward accomplishing those plans. He may make subtle adjustments or detours around dangers you can’t anticipate.

Or, like He did for us, He may ask you to hand them fully over to Him because He has something far better for you. Something you could never plan on your own.

Where we are today would not have been a possibility had our original plan worked out. The healing and freedom we experience now would not have been possible without the agony letting go of our plans.

Our home is filled with laughter, friends and joy. But more than that - WE are filled with laughter and joy.

While I do get that the quote is meant tongue-in-cheek, I promise He is not laughing at the plans you hold dear. He loves you. He has great plans for you. He offers a future and a hope that cannot be found anywhere else.

What plans have you made that worked out the way you expected?

What plans didn’t?

How did either outcome increase your trust in God?

PLAYLIST:

This is Our God, Phil Wickham

Maker of Miracles, Austin & Lindsey Adamec