When I was in high school, I had figured out what I wanted to be and had planned it out. After high school, things happened and that plan went out the window. Several years later, I got married and began to plan my life out again. When those plans fell through, I found myself bankrupt and divorced. Each time things happened, I didn’t quit planning, I just had to make adjustments to the plan because I hadn’t calculated in set backs and going through hard times. I realize that these are things you can’t plan for, but I’ve also learned that plans rarely go the way they’re made. When things go off course from the way I envisioned them, God is still at work in my life and He still has a plan that has calculated all these things into it.
Life is not a matter of if things go wrong, it’s a matter of when. No one is excluded from bad things happening, plans falling through and going through hard times. But we have a promise from God that when things don’t go according to our plan, He’s right there with us going through the process by our side. He’s also promised that He won’t let those times overtake us. Looking back at those times in my life, I can see God’s hand at work and the course corrections He was making. It’s these promises that I now hold onto when I go through them again. Even though my plans fail, God never does. He’s there with us in the hardest of times even though it’s difficult to see Him in those moments.
Here are some Bible verses I hold onto when things don’t go as planned.
1. When I had nothing, desperate and defeated, I cried out to the Lord and he heard me, bringing his miracle-deliverance when I needed it most.
Psalms 34:6 TPT
2. You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
Matthew 5:3 MSG
3. To this very moment we go hungry and thirsty; we are clothed in rags; we are beaten; we wander from place to place; we wear ourselves out with hard work. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are insulted, we answer back with kind words.
1 Corinthians 4:11-13 GNT
4. Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.
1 Peter 4:12-13 MSG
5. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.
Isaiah 43:2 NLT
Photo by ian dooley on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 