I am a planner to the max.
I love organizing, lists, and calendars. In fact, a hot topic in my mind right now is wondering which day planner I will get for 2013. Will I stick with Erin Condren, or switch to something different {such as this, this, or this?}. Seriously, your feedback on this decision is much appreciated. If you have a favorite planner, let me know!
But that is not the point of this post…
I have been reminded lately that all my plans are futile if they are not the Lord’s plans. Proverbs 16:9 says: “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps….”
But it’s not only that God directs my steps in this life. That He is sovereign over all my plans. That’s amazing in itself.
But the more amazing thing to me is that God has given me a calling to make His name famous on this earth {something all Christians are called to do} and He has given me specific gifts and opportunities to carry out His calling {ones that are unique, crafted by God for me specifically}. And, get this, He planned out these gifts and opportunities and all the ways, big and small, that I would serve Him during my life… before I was even born.
God doesn’t need me. He is God and can run the whole universe without me. Yet, He loves me and He has called me and given me a purpose to love and help others while I am on this earth.
What a privilege. What an honor. That God would be mindful of me…
Because here’s the thing. I write in my planner… little notes and to-do lists that fill my days. Make dinner, write a paper, grade a paper, coffee with a friend. And these plans aren’t bad. In fact, a quiet and simple life is very pleasing to the Lord.
But if my planner was all I had… if my plans were all I had… my life would be pretty useless. Everything would be about me, me, me and would be hopelessly useless in the end.
But what rocks me at the core is that God has big plans for me that are about His Kingdom and His glory. I am created in Jesus Christ for good works that God planned for me to do before I even existed {Ephesians 2:10}.
I think of Solomon who built the temple, God’s earthly dwelling place in Jerusalem. To orchestrate the building of the temple was a huge task. It took many years and many hours of man power to get it done. Solomon had to seek out resources and craftsmen from other regions in order to build a house that would be worthy of the Lord. But Solomon didn’t just wake up one day and think “I should build a temple today.” He also didn’t get out his planner and jot “build a temple” on his to-do list as some far off goal that might be accomplished in the future.
God planned that Solomon would build the temple before Solomon was even born. When Solomon’s father, David, wanted to build a temple to the Lord, God stopped him and promised that His offspring would build it instead. Solomon wasn’t around to write this in his planner; he hadn’t even been conceived.
But God’s promises and His plans will always come to fruition. And the temple was indeed built by David’s son.
We are His craftsmanship and He has prepared, in advance, good works for us to do.
What good works is He calling you to today? It might not be a whole temple, but perhaps He is calling you, through some small act of service, to lay a brick in the temple of Christ… the temple that is His body, the church, here on earth.
This post fits in exactly with what God has been showing me this week. First that He uses and calls those whose hearts are completely his. He wants people who are willing to be tlld what to dk and then so it! And second, that if we dont follow him we have no idea what we're missing out on.. wjat amazing works He has for us!
Afshin Ziafat spoke at our church last night. He has an incredible testimony and talked about how he converted from muslim to Christian as a teen and was disowned by his dad. He could have sought his fathers acceptance and become a doctor but instead chose ministry and now he leads a church in Frisco and trains pastors in a country outside of iran to go back in and run underground churches in iran. How incredible is that?
Sorry so many typos. Im on my kindle. God is definitely changing my heart right now and shaping me and prepping me for something. I want to be fully devoted to Him and His call. This was just another reminder 🙂
i am so guilty of this. i love to think about the future. every day i have free i think and plan out each moment– every single stinkin' one– and I know that those moments belong to God. While it's great to plan, there is also a bigger story in letting God direct my life, even those small minutes of my day.
this is such a good reminder!! God totally has the best plans for us, even when we think ours are pretty good :-p
ps-LOVE the striped Sarah Pinto planner. i'm actually thinking about getting that one now! 🙂
Beautifully written and a great reminder, thanks for being faithful! And cute blog lady!
Thanks for sharing this, Jen! It's a wee bit similar to mine this week. 🙂 http://www.munchtalk.net
I really love how you explain how planning isn't *bad* it's good, but how eternal are our plans? Always a really good reminder! I've been really wanting to invest in lives here as I am blogging so it isn't just about me, me, me. 🙂 So I hope you don't mind as I start stalking your posts sometimes. 🙂
I had been avoiding the Influence recap posts because I knew was unable to attend. I did not want to know what I missed so I avoided everything associated with it. However, my attitude really did not reflect my acceptance of God's specific plan for my life.
thank you.