I don’t know about you, but I’m a planner by nature. I make to do lists, sometimes just so I can feel the satisfaction of scratching something off a list. You know the type. After two months of dating, we had “the plan” all laid out: get married, finish school, get jobs, save money, buy a house, have two kids no more, no less (we had names already picked out for a boy and a girl), and live as a happy family. Such naiveté. That sweet, young girl had no idea what was in store for her.

I’m so glad that I am unable to see the future. That cliché question “If you could know the day you will die, would you want to know it?” is very applicable – sometimes knowledge is a burden. Not knowing can allow a person to live without a sense of dread. But I can also understand the argument that when facing an uncertain future, a person can feel overwhelmed with anxiety of all the possible outcomes.

For someone like me, I find it comforting to make plans. It helps me feel more in control. And making plans is not inherently a bad thing to do. But I have learned through my periods of suffering that clinging to your plans is setting yourself up for a lot of hurt.

After experiencing so many months of disappointment with infertility God started working on my heart, slowly peeling back one finger at a time to release my grip from my plans, and gave me a new plan: to trust His plan.

Jeremiah 29:11
‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’

It’s important to remember the above verse when your plans fall apart – God has not forgotten about you. He has a plan for you, and even if it includes painful events, it is meant for you to trust Him with your future and have a heart of hope.

Romans 5:1-5
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

The Lord has taught me that there is so much more to life than “my plan”…this life is meant to build a legacy of trusting God with an uncertain future and bringing glory to Him. He is the Lord Most High, and He is worthy of praise, each and every day…during triumph and during struggle, during blessings and trials. There’s so much freedom in giving up “your plan” for God’s plan – whatever He chooses it to be.