To Plan or Not to Plan

I'm a planner it's what I do. I'm a little obsessive about it and there have been times that I've actually struggled in my faith because nothing was going according to my plan. One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11 "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." It's a great verse but look at the verse part again "the plans I have for you". It's not about our plans, it's about God's.

In college I had a friend who liked to tell me that when men make plans God laughs. And she's right. Somewhere in Proverbs I think it talks about men making plans but God knowing what will actually happen.

I can't plan everything out, that's not how life works, things aren't always going to go the way I want them to because I'm not in control. God is.

A good friend of mine likes to remind me of the verses in Matthew 6:25-34.
 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

His point is that if we're not worrying but trusting God then when things don't go according to my plan it'll be a lot easier to remember that things are still going according to God's plan. Even when I don't understand why.

I'm still going to plan, sometimes I'll still slip up and worry because I'm human and I'm not perfect but by reminding myself of these verses and letting God use them in my life my faith will grow and that's always a good thing.