Being Still | When Things Don’t Go According to Plan

“but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not faint.” -Isaiah 40:31

“For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
it testifies about the end and will not lie.
Though it delays, wait for it,
since it will certainly come and not be late.” -Habakkuk 2:3

“Wait for the Lord;
be strong and courageous.
Wait for the Lord.” -Psalm 27:14

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own understanding;
think about Him in all your ways,
and He will guide you on the right paths.“ -Proverbs 3:5-6

We live in a “want it when we want it” culture. We aren’t in a “let’s wait” culture. We hate waiting at restaurants, we hate waiting for things to go on sale, we hate waiting in line, we don’t like it when things don’t go our way. We’re a culture of now. We’re a culture of fast. We’re a culture of right away. 

I am a MUCH more patient person than I used to be. I’ve always been a flexible and understanding person, but patience has always been tough for me. Pregnancy and parenting and marriage have really strengthened my patience skills…

However, admittedly, patience and waiting on God’s plan and God’s timing has been one of the biggest things I’ve struggled with in my walk as a Christian. Honestly, I STILL often get frustrated and angry with God when things just aren’t happening the way I want them to. If things aren’t going according to MY plans and MY timing, I start to get antsy and I start to get anxious and I start building small feelings of resentment.

For example, Lilly was due August 7th, 2013. She wasn’t born until August 18th. That was some of the longest 11 days of my life. Every day I would wake up NOT in labor and I’d look to the heavens and ask, “Seriously, God? WHY? WHY has she not come yet?”

And then, when she finally DID decide to make her appearance, my ENTIRE labor and delivery went the complete OPPOSITE of what I wanted. I wanted a totally natural, drug-free birth. I wanted music to be playing as she made her arrival and I wanted to be holding my husband’s hand as she came out and I wanted to do skin-to-skin right away and I wanted angels to be singing the Hallelujah chorus as she made her first cries. Jokes. 

Turns out God had other plans. I labored for 22 hours before they FORCED me to get an epidural and then I ended up with a c-section and I couldn’t hold her for the first few hours of her life. Like I said, the exact opposite of what I wanted.

And even now, there are a few things that we’re going through as a family where we are just WAITING on God. We prayed all the prayers, asked all the questions, and sought all the counsel and thought things were going to be quick, easy, and painless… but it turns out things are just a little more complicated than that. Things just aren’t happening as quickly as we thought they would. Things just aren’t happening as painless as we thought they would. Things just aren’t going the way we WANTED them to.

But again, God has other plans.

The problem is, we have no clue what those plans are.

But trusting in Him, waiting on Him, and believing that He’s got it taken care of is one of the most difficult things to do… but when done, is by far the best thing to do (by a long shot).

The only problem is… HOW? How do we continue to trust, wait, and believe that He’s got our back?

Faith.

When I look back over my life, I realize that not ONCE has God let me down. Not once. Sure, things haven’t gone the way I’ve wanted them to before, but each and every thing that I’ve experienced in my life both good AND bad (even BEFORE I was a believer) has been for a purpose and for a reason. I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for each of those things.

I love my life… and every little detail that God has woven into it has led me to this moment. To this time. To this season.

And for that, I couldn’t be more grateful.

So, in the times (like now) where I’m waiting on God for things to go according to HIS plan and not MY plan, I have to remember His promise, I have to stay in His word and I have to remember that He’s never left me, He’s never forsaken me, and He will never stop loving me.

That’s a pretty amazing promise, if you ask me.