Curveballs

It's funny...we tend to be really good at giving advice to other people, but terrible at listening to our own advice.  Put all of our situation in another person, and we'd have almost all the answers.  But, when it's us we're dealing with...well, that's just not that easy.

One of the things I usually say to friends who are faced with something completely unexpected is that as soon as we make our plans, that's usually when God throws a good curveball our way...just his way of reminding us that he is in control of things, and that the process making plans for the future should be drenched in prayer.  (Proverbs 16:9, 19:21)

I'll be talking with a friend, and they'll explain some situation where they made plans, but now everything seems to be changing...and it's just so clear to me. Those passages come to mind, and this concept that curveballs tend to come once we've set all of our plans is all I can think of.

And yet, when it happens in my life, it takes me a lot longer to realize what's going on.  It takes a lot longer for me to stop, take a look at things, and actually listen to the same exact counsel that I gave a friend not 2 weeks ago.

I mean, really, with everything that's been happening the last few months, and how it has affected my plans for summer, I'd be stupid to not realize that God threw a pretty darn good breaking ball.  Then you add that I've been doing a lot (A LOT) of reevaluating over the last week (and will continue to do so for a while) about what it is that I really think I want to do with life, how I want to use the gifts God has blessed me with, whether to focus on some specific gifts more than others....well, let's just say, God's got a mean slider.

I'm nowhere near any revelations or breakthroughs with all this thinking and reevaluating...I still have a lot of thinking and praying and talking to much smarter people than me to do.  (Could be a potential future post.)  But, if nothing else, it's a reminder that making plans for the future should always be done prayerfully.  We always tend to make our own plans that are perfect in our eyes...well, guaranteed God has something better.  (The tough part is when it really doesn't look better at all in the midst of the circumstances.)

God always has something better.

Proverbs 16:9
 ⁹ In their hearts humans plan their course,
   but the LORD establishes their steps.


Proverbs 19:21
 ²¹ Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
   but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.