“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow… Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast and brag.’” –James 4:13, 15, 16

You were planning to go to the lake on your birthday, and it pours. You plan a sleepover, and your friend cannot come, you dream of being a nurse — God calls you to engineering, you plan to live in a mansion, and you’re called across the world to a foreign country, and you have no idea how to even pronounce the country’s name, you just get in a relationship with the one you thought you were supposed to be with only to find out the relationship is dead. Some of the plans I have follow through and that’s because they were in line with God, and sometimes they follow through because He allows the plan for me to realize it was not such a bright idea, allowing room for growth in my relationship with Him (even though it does not feel like it in the moment). Many plans I have do not follow through and for good reason. They were not in His plan. His plan is the best plan.

{Father, make what You want become I want too! Goal: share You}.

I’m a planner, a hard-core planner. I’ve realized how much of a planner I am within the past year or two. I use time like it’s a spoon. Time is one of my “necessities” for living (maybe go back to telling time by the sun, or would it be much different even then…?). I’m often in a rush and am Lady Routine. Get this: I started planning my class schedule over two weeks ahead of time AND created a rough draft for the next year. I love surprises, but I also like to know what’s going on. I will sometimes not let my mind settle until I’ve put into action what my mind is overloading on. “I gotta do this, gotta do that, not later, now!” I drive myself crazy, and I am sometimes my own causer of stress. {Thanks, me.}

God is the designer of everything. He didn’t make us to put us in charge or ask us our opinion on how our world should operate, and He doesn’t even need our opinion on whether His robe makes Him look fat or not. We’ve taken over quite heavily and look where we’re at. Where are you at in your life? Are you planning too much or are you making plans and being well aware they are subject to change?

There’s nothing wrong with planning. It helps us get things in order, helps keep us from chaos. If planning is consuming our lives, we’ve forgotten Who the Leader is, and if the waters are murky with God’s way, then it’s a problem.

Consider these questions:

Have I asked God and truly sought Him out?

Am I doing or planning of doing something God does not approve of?

Would this bring glory to God or glory to self?

Why am I planning this?

If I do struggle with planning, how can I help it?

Am I living in His freedom or my chokehold?

God’s ways are much different than ours.

Isaiah 55:8 says:

“’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

It’s really kind of amazing to see that He can think SO differently than us. I will never fully understand God, at least not on earth. He blows my mind and is so mysterious to me. Just when I think I have him figured out, I’m taken by the hand to a scavenger hunt, left wondering more. In this, we can love Him more, grow more and not bathe in anger and confusion. Sometimes you may think, “How could I have been so far off?” “I thought I heard You right, God.” I’ve been here. We can talk to Him. He wants us to be real. If you’re sad, tell Him. Angry, bitter? Tell Him. Here’s the thing to be careful with: if I lose focus and smother and sulk on why it didn’t turn out my way, I’ll be confused and forfeit my trust in God. So, tell Him what you’re going through, and lay your burdens at His feet. We must keep faith and hope, and keep believing there’s a reason and that God is still just as Great. If you are confused, consider talking to God about it and ask Him to open your eyes to His ways. I’m going to tell you two words that may be the last thing you want to hear: “Be still,” Psalm 46:10a. Psalm 139:16 says:

“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

God knows what He wants to do in your life and in mine. He’s had it planned since forever, and He doesn’t change it. If anything, we do because we often choose not to obey The Best. Here’s how we can help our over-planning, and many other problems: rest, pray, fast, as in sacrifice something to God. Really, He wants everything you are controlling. Just acknowledge Him right where you are and see what He wants by being open and willing. Don’t overthink it.