4 things to remember when life doesn't go as planned

What do you do when life doesn't go as planned?

For a long time I lived life with an invisible weight of melancholy on my shoulders. I felt the world was against me when every plan I'd had for myself kept falling through.

Growing up, I had so many visions and dreams of what I wanted to become and where I wanted to be.

The dreams I'd built in my heart came apart and the timeframe I'd set for myself failed.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD. "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

In the above verse, it's easy to believe God is talking about our own plans, but right here He's letting us see His plans are worth living for, even though they may not match our own plans.

So what do you do when your vision of success is different from God's definition of success?

How do you rise up again when your timeframe doesn't fit with God's time frame of things?

How often do you struggle to reconcile the image you once had in your heart with everything happening in your reality?

Do you doubt God's goodness in your life because it doesn't match the world's definition of success?

Are you wishing you had a say in how your life should go?

When life doesn't go as planned, how do you recondition your mind to accept God's will?

God's life is your best life

Since we live in a world without an alternate version, it's easy to wonder 'what if.'

But have you ever wondered what if the other life made you lose out on God?

Our problems began when Adam and Eve looked outside God's plan for them.

They felt there was a better life out there after the enemy suggested 'what if.'

Just as God's presence is heavenly, anything outside His will is darkness, no matter how attractive it may look on the outside.

Sometimes we are so overwhelmed with our current situation we forget to see God's hands working his magic in our lives.

We despise the little miracles in us and around us and wish our lives were just like someone else's.

For so long, I kept thinking what if.

Perhaps if I had chosen my own way, I'd have made something good for myself.

But vain thoughts are only what they are. Vain.

And they will hinder us from enjoying the life God has destined for us.

We need to come to a place of contentment in our lives even as we accept God's will.

When our hearts try to rebel, we must constantly remind ourselves that no other life could have been better, save for the one God has planned for us to live out.

And this begins with learning to live intentionally.

We may not have the life we wanted. The one God may bring our way may not come in a 'shiny' package, but we must make most of the one God has planned for us.

Because His plans are the best.

If your life is not going as planned, consider yourself blessed

God interrupting our man made version/definition of living is the best thing that can ever happen to us.

The world may tell you otherwise, but God the author of life gets to say how life should be lived.

God interrupted Mary's life and considered her highly favoured to be interrupted by Him.

And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!

Luke 1:28

Abraham's life was interrupted a lot of times to usher in God's will and plan for Him.

Abraham never planned to have kids in his old age.

To the world it may have looked cruel and odd, but God was doing something glorious with his life, altering his name (nature) and destiny for the best.

God made Abraham see He was the reward, not kids.

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.

Genesis 15:1

Paul never envisioned his life to be filled with hunger, nakedness, peril, sword and continous persecution. But God considered his life the best life because He finished his race.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness is laid up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day

2Timothy 4:7

John the Baptist never envisioned himself being beheaded at a young age, but according to Jesus, he had fulfilled his purpose for existing.

John the Baptist was considered the greatest man born of a woman before the New Testament was ushered in.

Not all men get to live a purposeful life on earth. Some live long and still end up short of God's will for them.

But John lived a little and died after fulfilling God's purpose for his existence.

Close the door to other options

When a couple choose to marry, both are coming to a place where they forfeit any other life outside their union.

They are both relinquishing the desire to imagine what if with someone else and do life with this person they love.

This is how it is with God and this is how it is with the life He has given us.

If we don't close the door to other options, the enemy of our souls will find it easy to keep seducing us away from the life God has called us into.

We will shy away from embracing His will and keep looking for an alternative route.

We will live the rest of our lives wishing, grumbling and envying other people who seem to have it better than us.

Social media will become a place that reminds you of what you could have had if only you'd done things a certain way.

As a single lady in her early 30s, there was a time it was a little hard for me to see couple pictures, videos or captions. Because they stirred up mixed feelings inside me.

I found my heart questioning God and I allowed my emotions get the best of me.

What is taking God so long? Are my feelings even valid to him? Does he really care?

Until I had to come to a place of speaking to my soul (like the Psalmist) to behold God always.

God is good, regardless of how I feel.

My feelings don't get to decide God's goodness.

God knows what's best for me. He knows the time, the way and the when.

He is my priority. Above everything else.

He is my purpose. I was first made for Him, so I will pour myself into Him. Even when life doesn't go as planned.

Know your Purpose

In the year 2017 God told me He was my purpose.

Ever since I've been learning to re-align every feeling, every motive and all my reasons to please Him.

Because pleasing Him is where my destiny resides.

Whether I am married or single, the GOAL remains the same.

Christ being formed in me is what matters, regardless of my accolades or whatever I may do in the natural.

Because of this, I have learned to love the life I didn't plan for, the one God has for me.

This has enabled me to get back up whenever I'm discouraged.

This keeps me motivated to keep running the race set before me and enjoy God's plan for my life. Even when it doesn't fit the world's definition or my definition of success.

His plans are far better than mine. Because He's the good shepherd and a good Shepherd always puts the life of his sheep first.

Even if the sheep may not know it, but it's the best life the sheep could ever have.

Bloom with Love. Xx!