Everything may not be okay

I was talking with a friend recently who is in a season of great change. Things in her life aren’t going quite the way she planned and she’s beginning to feel overwhelmed and anxious.

My friend’s situation is uniquely hers, but it is one that I think we all can relate to.

I can’t think of anyone who is living the life they dreamed of, with every little thing falling perfectly into place exactly the way they imagined. I can, however, think of lots of people who are living the life they never knew they could dream of.

I’m one of them. I bet you are too.

You see, I had my life all planned out. And not a single thing happened the way I thought it would. So I made a new plan. Same result. Apparently I’m a slow learner because I continued to plan and have things go completely differently over and over again.

This isn’t to say that planning is a bad thing; it’s not. Planning without leaving room for the divine is a bad thing.

You see, all the plans I made for myself didn’t take into account the lessons I would need to learn to prepare me for the life God had planned for me.

Lessons on hardship, loneliness, frugality, beauty, passion, creativity, friendship, compassion, risk and persistence. Lessons on death and dying. Lessons on strength and survivorship. Lessons on finding the joy in the little things.

Each lesson came from something I never planned. Beautiful, hard, breathtaking, adventurous things.

If we let go of the plans that we make for ourselves and learn to embrace the detours that God puts in our place, we will often find that we wind up somewhere better that we could ever have imagined.

This is not to say that life will be without hardship, we are not promised that. But if we embrace the trials and detours, we will find the lessons we learn will make the destination even more sweet.

The important thing to remember when facing a trial, at least for me, is that life comes in loops and detours, but it also comes in seasons and no season will last forever.

Some seasons seem to drag on forever and others are gone in the blink of an eye, but each teaches us something that guides us through the next.

So, to my friend standing at the edge of a season of uncertainty, with much on the line, I say to you, I can’t promise that everything will be okay. But I can promise that the plans God has for you are better than you could ever imagine.

It may not feel like it when you are in the middle of this change, but when you get to the other side you will be stronger, surer of yourself and grateful for the opportunity to learn the lessons that are before you.

I can also promise I’ll be right there with you, cheering you on, holding space and praying for you.

With God, all things are possible. You can do this, friend. I believe in you and the plan God has for your life.