We've all been there. We have all had a plan in our heads that we thought would work out. We have had our futures mapped out down to the last detail. But then something happens, and those plans don't work out. Those plans go down the drain. And you're stuck trying to figure out plan B.
It's a lot like driving with a GPS. You are driving down the road and your GPS tells you to turn left, but you accidentally miss the street you were supposed to turn on. Next thing you know, you hear that little robotic voice that lives in your GPS saying the word "Recalculating..." because it has to find another way to get you to your destination.
Here's the good thing. I'm pretty sure each time my GPS has told me that it was "recalculating," I still got to the place where I needed to be. There is more than one way to get to your destination. There isn't just one specific route that you are required to take. In almost every situation, you can get to the location you need to go in multiple ways, not just one or two. And even if there's only one way to go, your GPS will tell you to do a u-turn.
I was thinking about this concept of "recalculating" and the idea that destinations have more than one way to get there. I thought it related a lot to life. Sometimes in life, our plans don't turn out the way we had hoped. We figure out that we are "driving" on the wrong path and that we need to either make a turn somewhere that we hadn't planned or we need to skip a turn somewhere and try another way. And that is completely okay.
I'm a firm believer that God has specific plans for us in life, but that He often uses different means to get us there. So you may be "driving" down the path to whatever your dream job is, or you may be "driving" down the path at the college you are at, or "driving" down the path to get to whatever life event you have in mind, when suddenly God starts "recalculating" and takes you somewhere different. You may think that your plans are trashed, and that all hope for your perfect future is lost. But here's the beauty of this whole situation...your plans may be lost, but His plans aren't. Your perfect future may be down the drain, but His perfect future for you is still in tact.
Another beautiful thing is that sometimes (alright, all the time) when God redirects you, it is because He has something so much greater in mind for you than what you can see currently. It's really hard to understand that and see that in the moment, but one day you'll look back and it will all make sense.
So next time you find God "recalculating" what you have in mind, remind yourself that His plans are much bigger and better than anything you could ever plan for yourself. He knows what is best for us, and sometimes that just takes a little trust on our part. Trust that the creator of the entire universe knows how to get you to your destination.
"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
