When things don’t work out as you plan

The world isn’t going to devote itself to making us happy, and only when we accept that can we begin to move forward. Much of the time life doesn’t work out the way we plan. Paul wrote, “Whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you.” But he never got to Spain; instead, he landed in prison. But it was from there he wrote the epistles. So your disappointment may turn out to be God’s appointment! The Bible says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps” (Proverbs 16:9 NIV). Aren’t you glad God’s in control of your life? Let the philosophers argue over why life works as it does; just you focus on how to live it! If you live to be a hundred, what good is it if resentment and regret keep you from enjoying it? And what good is more time if you’re just wasting the time you’ve got? Do you know how an oyster makes a pearl? When a grain of sand gets into its shell and irritates it, the oyster wraps the sand in layers of beauty until a pearl is formed. An unknown poet wrote, “This tale has a moral, for isn’t it grand, what an oyster can do with a morsel of sand? What couldn’t I do if I’d only begin, with all of the things that get under my skin?” God is at work in what you’re going through today—for your good and His glory. All you need to do is trust Him.