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Today my dear friend Linda from Apron Strings and Other Things is joining us to talk about something that I think we all need to remember from time to time. I think as women we often times try to plan out things and then we can’t understand why things are just not going the way we want them to. Often times it is because our plans and God’s plans are just not the same………………………
Do you find yourself scheduling your days and hours? We make our plans ~ glorious plans ~ only to have a wrench thrown in the works. You have a choice – you can accept and adjust when the details don’t work out the way you had hoped or you can stew and simmer over what could’ve been, should’ve been.
There are lessons we can learn from the life of Joseph. Joseph - a man who chose to wait for God’s timing. As a boy he was thrown into a pit by his brothers and sold into slavery because they were jealous of how their father treated their younger brother. Though he may have had every right to kick and scream and moan “why me!” he proved himself to be a valuable asset to those in charge. He chose to work at his tasks in a way that brought glory to God. But again an injustice comes his way. His boss’s wife takes revenge when he chooses to run from her womanly wiles. I doubt it was part of Joseph’s plans to be thrown in jail. He spent twenty years in prison, unjustly accused before he received opportunity for release. We are not told that he cried out to God to change his circumstances, instead we are told he gained respect and admiration from those around him. After he is called up and released Joseph becomes second in command over all of Egypt. I have difficulty waiting 20 minutes and it’s almost torture waiting 20 days, but how would I respond if I were told to wait twenty years?
God blessed many who were in Joseph’s life - even those who turned against him or forgot about him or interfered with his plans and dreams. “But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.” [Genesis 39:21] “the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had“ [Genesis 39:5] The Lord was with him, that is how Joseph weathered the storms and the changes in plans.
In this day and age of instant access everything, the virtue of patience is tested more than ever. We can make plans, map out our trip, reserve lodging, even order our meals with the tap of a finger. There’s a sense of power that comes from clicking that little button. With our plans in place, we put blinders on and expect certain results based on the plans we made.
Am I making plans for tomorrow without leaving room for God to change my agenda? That would make me a stiff-necked, unwise woman. Instead I am making plans and giving them over to the Lord to guide and direct, trusting him to work out the details.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:34
Linda Sears is a stay-at-home wife, homeschooling mother and doting grandmother. She and her husband have 8 children, a daughter-in-law, 2 sons-in-law and 5 grandchildren, so far. They have been homeschooling for more than 20 years, graduating 4 of their 8 children, with 4 more to go. You’ll find her at Apron Strings & other things where she blogs about life as she knows it, with children in various stages of cutting those apron strings.
I would like to invite you to my Facebook group Christian Homemakers in Training where we dive into homemaking, motherhood, marriage and group devotions. After all, we all need a safe place to grow together, right?