Is It Bad To Have A Plan?

Today's post might be a bit of rambling.  Let me preface this with a preview of the last month and a half...I am going on 7 weeks of unending "stuff".  Every weekend has been filled, every day has been spent at my full-time job and then at 1 of my 2 part time jobs.  I have had guests, traveled, and it has been great.  But I'm running on my fumes' fumes...

Anyway...

Is it bad to have a plan?  To put it drastically, I grew up learning that there is no point to planning your life because the exact opposite of whatever you plan is what is actually going to happen. 

Here is a list of examples:
Do you dream about having a family?  You will end up a career person.
Do you want to be career driven?  You will be all about family.
Do you want to be married by 20? Then if you marry, you won't get married until you're 40.
Do you  not ever want to get married or do you want to wait until you're a bit older before settling down?  You'll get married before you turn 16.
Do you want lots of kids? Sorry, you only get 1.
Do you only want 1 kid? Well, here's 9 for ya!
Do you want to parent differently than your parents?  Too bad, you're exactly the same.

I'm not kidding, these are the kinds of things that were normal in my everyday thought process.  Throw in a scripture and there is nothing you can do about it!

Isaiah 55:8
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

 See?! (imagine a old man chuckling and shaking his head at your youth)

Now that I'm older, I think about how silly it was for me to have every been scared that my dreams would never happen simply because I dreamt them.  Even worse is that I've trapped these dreams in my head for fear that verbalizing them would solidify their demize!

Well, #1: Even if this psycho thinking were true, God sees your thoughts...duh! 

More important, however, is #2.

Jeremiah 29:11
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.

Praise God that that he is and has always been preparing nothing but prosperity for me and for you.  Yes, his thoughts are not my thoughts and his ways are definitely not my ways, but that in no way means that he will withhold the desires of my heart.

Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Planning?  It's a good thing.  Planning prepares you and makes you ready for the next door that is going to open.  Having a grasp of where you are going can only spur you to push on toward that goal.  Stay in alignment with the moves that the Lord has you make. Yes, I will tell you that your plan for achieving your dreams may not be the way God has it planned, but be encouraged that He has the greater plan.

I've been thinking about babies again.  It's been 11 months of no birth control, late periods, and negative pregnancy tests.  I haven't been saying that we've been trying because if I admitted out loud that we were, then I would be admitting that I have failed.  I was thinking about my thought processes and the way that I grew up thinking.  If I admit out loud that I want a child, that means that I somehow won't have one, right?  Wrong.  My ways are not your ways.  

xoxo,
Linda