I couldn’t resist buying this coffee mug when I saw it in a little gift shop on my birthday a couple of months ago. The saying on the front caught my eye as well as the bright and cheery colors. It spoke to me because I have been pouting for a very long time and I’ve been mad at God some of that time too. Woody Allen has a saying “if you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans.” Now I know that God is a good God and I don’t believe that He’s laughing at me anymore because He loves me too much to do so.
You see, I had a “Plan A” a few years ago. When my cute little coffee café sold in the summer of 2009, I felt truly blessed. God had answered my prayer by sending an enthusiastic and eager buyer with cash in hand during a tough economy. The sale happened very quickly and this soon became one of my favorite “God stories”.
Plan A (my plan) was to take a couple of months off to relax and recharge because I was pretty worn out from doing all of the things required to run a small business. Afterwards I planned to secure a great corporate job doing just about anything that I wanted to do. The entrepreneurial spirit inside of me told me I could since my business had been such a success! The final part of my plan was to invest the proceeds from the sale of the business into something for my future. I even bought a “financial insurance policy” in the form of a tithe. Yes, I gave my 10 percent to the Lord’s work because I believed that God had done His part in bringing me a buyer and I needed to be obedient and do mine also. I guess God and I were in agreement on at least part of my plan because I did get my two months of r&r in before things flipped upside-down. Because the economy was so bad, my job search turned into weeks of rejection or no response at all. The “connections” that I had made in the shop turned out to be disconnects. The money that I planned to invest in my future quickly went away. Emotionally I was down for the count, flat on the mat, dazed and confused. I didn’t see this coming. Little did I know that I was about to enter some of the darkest days of my life where I would be tested and paralyzed by fear and anxiety caused by a seeming lack of control over my future. Having a controlling Type A personality didn’t help much either!
As I reflect back over things now, I believe that God watched my obedience that day at the mailbox with the tithe and thought to Himself “now here is someone that I can use to make a difference in people’s lives, but not until I do a little pruning in hers.” God’s plan for me (Plan B) was to become totally dependent on Him and to trust Him to provide for all of my needs. I have to admit that He has done so in miraculous ways every day ever since. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So here I am seven years later a “poor” (by worldly standards) “people whisperer”/property manager but a much richer person by Godly standards because of what I have learned by trusting and walking with Him one day at a time. Below is a gratitude note from my millennial co-workers at my “entry level” job that puts things into perspective for me and keeps me humbled and grateful most days.
Below is Plan B according to Suzy Toronto’s coffee mug…..
Plan A is always my first choice. You know, the one where everything works out to be happily ever after. But more often than not, I find myself dealing with the upside-down, inside-out version where nothing goes as it should. It’s at this point the real test of my character comes in…Do I sink or do I swim? Do I wallow in self-pity and play the victim or do I shift gears and make the best of the situation? The choice is mine. After all…Life is all about how you handle Plan B.
Now it’s your turn. Everyone has their own Plan A. Please feel free to share yours.
