Trust, Plans, and Tapestries

Whew. It has been a LONG year. And it isn't even over yet!

You might be thinking this, too. I have been thinking this since the middle of March. It never seems to end, does it?

For me, it started off with a bang. February, my family found out about the death of two family friends, whom we hadn't been in touch with much. Then, my dad lost his job. March, COVID happened; I'm not the only one complaining, though, because everyone is going through the same thing with this one. In the summer, close friends that happened to be the first friends we had in Texas moved to the UAE. In August, a loved one was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer, and there was nothing we could do since he didn't live in the same state as us and COVID made it difficult to see them. September came and our friend's state only got worse, my brother broke his arm, different views on the way we should react to COVID resulted in a divided neighborhood, and COVID STILL had us buried to our necks. 

That is just my year's review. Everyone has experienced some difference in the way 2020 is turning, whether it be being secluded because of COVID, losing a loved one, or something else.

One of my favorite verses that reminds me of my security in Christ and how much he loves and cares for me is Jeremiah 29:11 which says:

"For I know the plan I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Notice it doesn't say: "For I think I know the plan I have for you, says the Lord", or "I'm working on it, I'm working on it! says the Lord". It is God telling us that he has a plan that he has made, even before we were born ("Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you." Jeremiah 1:5).

This can be hard to wrap your mind around sometimes. It sure is for me. After everything that has happened throughout this year alone, God still has a plan?

When my dad lost his job, the first thing he reminded us every day was that it was God's plan A. Not plan B, not plan C, plan A. And now, 8 months after he got laid off, he is in full swing with a career coaching business he started that is doing well. He loves it. Wayyy more than he liked his other job, too. 

See? That was God's plan A for my dad, and we didn't see it like that until much later, when it started making sense. That happens a lot. Something isn't working out, or isn't going the way it should, and we don't understand why. But God does. 

Think of it like a tapestry. One side with its beautifully woven pieces, fit together to create a picture or pattern that amazes the eyes. On the other side, however, is the knots and clutters of thread that doesn't make sense. It's ugly, but it is there to make the front side beautiful. In life, we are looking at the back side. We only see the ugly, deformed part that doesn't make any sense whatsoever. But God is on the other side, looking at the full picture. He knows how it works out. He sees how the ugly will fit into his beautiful.

How can we apply this into our own lives?

How can we trust that God has a special plan for us?

Try this: keep a prayer journal. Jot down your prayers for God, with the date, and pour out your heart. Tell God what is troubling you, and why. 

Watch as your prayers from yesterday, then last week, last month, last year, and on and on and on get answered in ways you may or may not have expected.

I do it. I read prayers that I made YEARS ago, and I marvel at the way God answered them. More often than not, they are answered in ways I never could have imagined. And that is what helps me to keep trusting in God's plan, even if it seems messy from my side of the tapestry.

Next week: Grief, suffering, and what God says about how to deal with it. Plus, a song written by yours truly, and the story behind it.