May 2005 Volume 6

Torn Agendas

Last week, my husband and I made plans for the summer — AGAIN. We already had done that in March but things had changed dramatically There were new responsibilities, more events, and more requirements to consider. We had to rearrange our agendas and rethink our schedules to accomplish our duties and still have time for each other, for family, and for physical and spiritual rest. When life is busy, planning not only is good thing, it is a necessary thing.

But our plans, as good as they are, are often interrupted by greater plans—the sovereign plans of God. Many times, God has taken all of those beautifully organized time slots and agenda pages and torn them into a million, unrecognizable pieces. He puts new pages into the book of our lives filled with events and circumstances that we either anticipated or expected.

When I was younger, God’s interference with my life caused me a great deal of upset and frustration. I thought things were settled only to find out that things were very tenuous. As an older woman, I am learning to enjoy the ride. I am finally beginning to get it! I understand now that there is really no better place to be than in the place God has prepared for me.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote: “‘For I know the plans I have for you’, says the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope and a future.’” That is the bottom line for the Christian. God’s plans are always “good” plans. He will prosper us and bring us hope in them. In difficult and painful times, in times that do not make sense to us, we may be sure that God is keeping both His goodness and His promises. What He says, He does. He has the amazing ability to take the evil that touches our lives and turn it to our spiritual benefit.

When evil assails us in life, He not only grants us strength to endure it but also provides a fitting escape. He does not fail us when the going gets tough. Yet, He also knows exactly what we can endure. Though He pushes us at times, He will not crush us. He is the perfect “surgeon” whose cuts are perfectly measured. And when something is more terrible than His child can bear, He will guard him and protect him in the shadow of His wings. With His everlasting arms around us, we find a strength that far exceeds what is human. We find a supernatural, unending, unlimited power that issues forth from the very heart of God.

The pages of our agendas may change, plans may not turn out as we expected, and life may not be what we thought it would be, but God will always be God. He is the One who puts the pieces of our lives together to accomplish His purposes in us and through us. And in the rearranging process, we taste and see that the Lord is good!

Sarah Gleason — May 2005