DAY 67 - PURPOSE OVER PLANS
MILANNA MARTILLARO, YA CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM LEAD
“Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21
Anybody else here a planner? I absolutely love knowing my plans. I enjoy planning out every major and minute detail of my week, my month, my year, my life. I had my living room and kitchen planned out before I even moved into my home (amen to Pinterest, am I right?). I have had my wedding planned long before I was ever engaged (another hallelujah, amen to Pinterest).
And yet, as much as I love to plan and divulge myself into every aspect of what I want to happen or think is going to happen, I have been following the Lord long enough to be able to say that my plans HARDLY ever prevail. And I can honestly say, I sometimes don’t know what to do when they don’t.
Anybody else?
I think plans not going the way we had hoped is something that we can all relate to right now. I don’t know very many people whose plans were not redirected or even put on halt by our current reality. Like you maybe you have had your plans for what your life is going to look like in this last season or within your young adult years altogether and they haven’t exactly panned out the way you hoped. And now maybe you’ve lost heart and have become discouraged, or maybe you’re even questioning if God at all cares about your plans or desires.
Here is the real hard truth though; God cares far more about His purpose in your life than your own plans for your life.
Let me say it this way, God’s purpose for your life trumps your own plans for your life. And this is not at all a bad thing, in fact, God’s purpose for your life is far better than what you probably had planned. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “’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 a hope and a future.’” Psalm 23 says that God prepares a table for you.
So hear this, God canceling your plans does not mean God doesn’t care about your desires. If your plans don’t prevail, that is ok. Because God’s purpose for you is greater. God’s purpose for your life is to bring you greater joy, to prosper you, to prepare a table in heaven for you that is far beyond your wildest and best plan you could conjure up here on Earth.
Let that encourage you today, young adult. Your plans may not play out, but the purpose of the Lord always will, and His purpose for you is better.