All 6 Happily Ever After...: Plans...

Happy 2010! I had planned to post on New Year's Day. And then I had planned to post on the 2nd (since I didn't get around to posting on the 1st). And then I had planned to get around to posting every day after that.

And here were are 16 days later.

So much for my plans!

But the delay in my posting actually fits perfectly into what I want to write about... which is, if you hadn't guessed by now... PLANNING.

If you don't know me personally, let me tell you- just by my nature, I am a planner... I am a NEED to know kinda gal. Like, the kind who mapped out every single pit stop, bathroom break, meal stop, sight seeing stop and hotel stop- to the minute, and to the mile- on every long distance trip we've taken so far. Like the kind who has list after list of what I plan to do that day, week or month. I like lists... CHECKlists? Even better!

I don't always get around to completing my to do lists. And as a matter of fact, I ususally don't accomplish even half of what I'd planned on doing for any particular goal. I didn't say I perfectly execute my plans... I just said I like to make them.

But when you peel back the layers, it's easy to see that it's not about it being fun for me to organize or map and plan things out... the point is not even about having plans or accomplishing them... it's about c o n t r o l.

Who's in control of my life? Of course, everything in my fleshly self says- I AM!
Yet everything about what I continue to learn says- I am NOT.

If there is just ONE thing I learned in 2009, it's that I can make all the plans I want... they just might not play out how I intend.

Last year, was both one of the most challenging and one of the best of my entire life. How can I write "and" instead of "but yet"?Because it took me going through the challenges to learn the gift of release. The gift of relinquish. The gift of what it really means to hand over the reigns and let Him make the plans.

Last year, in our family, we faced some serious scares over things I'd rather not share. But in the end- I learned to give up my fears and to embrace trust.... trust that He's already got all the plans figured out, not because of me... but rather in spite of me. The beautiful truth that as long as I acknowledge Him in all my ways- He WILL make the path straight- (Prov 3:6) has given me the freedom to be released from needing to know all the plans... all the time. No matter what He has in store, whether I see it "coming" or not, whether I understand it or not, or whether I "agree" or not is really inconsequential because we know that God causes EVERYTHING to work together for the GOOD of those who LOVE HIM and are called according to HIS purposes." - Rom 8:28

Now... all that being said- I do have a few plans this year. I didn't say ALL plans were bad... I just said that being obsessed with controlling them is!

As for this coming year, I plan to thoroughly and completely enjoy this sweet little angel...