When Things Don’t Go the Way You Planned.
“To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue
Proverbs 16:1
No messages.
I sat there staring at this empty inbox, becoming all too familiar with this unnerving set of circumstances in which I was immersed. I began to wonder why I had thought that today would be any different.
I had become discouraged in the endless cycle of resume sending, updating cover letters, and scrolling through job ads. Though I knew I was not alone in my search for employment amid a pandemic, that sense of comfort from not being completely alone only provided temporary relief. At the core of it, I was restless to serve.
I had thought it would be simple. Though idealistic in tone, I somehow had expected a seamless transition into a career at the end of the semester, full of excitement and adventure.
It seemed that my plan was not unfolding how I thought it would. As each day passed by, I found myself becoming exceedingly restless in the waiting. I was surrounded by people who loved me dearly, yet as I looked around and there seemed to be no area of my life where I could find the absolute rest my soul had been yearning for.
Surely, I thought, there must be something that I was not doing right. Why else could God be withholding what seemed like an opportunity to serve Him?
What do you do when it seems that you are only faced with closed doors?
It was amid this circumstance that the Lord began to resound a timeless truth into my heart. He establishes his plans.
Proverbs 16 gives us a profound contrast between the plans of the human heart and the sovereign will of our heavenly Father. He has already gone before us. He knows all of the turns we will take in life, whatever blessings and hurdles come our way. And He is good.
This truth halted my perspective entirely. The Lord began to challenge my tightly-held set of ideals. God slowly began to bring the truth of His heart forward into every area. If I were to step out into the calling God had for me, I first needed to become fully dependent on my God. To completely trust Him and surrender my plans, once again, to His perfect will.
I needed to be reminded of my first love, for I could do nothing for the kingdom without Him. (John 15: 1-2).
It became evident that there was an apparent need to find rest in my Father. To abide in His tender mercies and to rest in the depth of His care.
Somehow along the way, my work ethic accompanied a grip on my identity, in which I began to become exceedingly restless unless I could obtain progress. Now, in these circumstances, I was met with the tender eyes of my Father, who was calling me back to Himself. To rest in His arms as I did as a child and trust that He has a plan.
The simple truth of abiding in the One who holds the plans in the palm of His hands became exceedingly clear. Everything else was unsure, but my Father had stayed the same, and in Him, I could put my hope. His love was the only thing I could cling to, and the depth of the certainty found within Him radiates beautifully against the backdrop of my uncertain circumstances.
I could only learn this from being immersed in the unknown.
Friend, wherever you find yourself today, you can take hold of His promises. You can rest in your Heavenly Father. Your life may have taken a drastic turn, which may leave you questioning whether He has left you. Maybe you long to sense His presence. Or perhaps you are living in the desire you had once prayed for, but it may look different than what you had previously thought. You can trust in your God. Remind yourself of His Word.
No matter where life takes me, whether dreams are fulfilled, or life unfolds far differently than I could have imagined, I can always find rest in my Father.
Wherever you find yourself today, I pray that these words encourage you so that you can find rest in the Father too. He knows what He is doing, even when we cannot trace His hand.
He is good.
Blessings,
