Pencil It In

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My plan was to take the whole family to Jamaica in July 2020. It was a sure thing. We’d miss Christmas 2019 in Jamaica so that we could save some more to celebrate love with our friends plus have a real vacation, south coast and all. God had other plans. My 2019 miracle was being in Jamaica for Christmas (my last Christmas there was 2015!). But then there was Corona…which God knew would happen. Now any plans for traveling in July are up in the air. My July 2020 plans were not God’s plans. But He was gracious enough to let me see my family in advance.

My plan was to have a family. I didn’t have a number in mind, but it wasn’t just two children. I ask myself; how does anyone know when their family is complete? I’m not sure. I knew I wanted children. Judah came along. He was awesome, and I knew I wasn’t done. I was ready for more of that awesomeness, and he would do well with a sibling. In came Ez, 2 years later. But when it was time to bless Ezra with a sibling, seems God had another plan. So I waited and wondered. Wondered and waited.
Before this, I was introduced to the idea of adoption and I loved it. I had no idea if or when I would do it, but maybe this pause was God drawing my mind back to adoption.
Our new plan was, by the end of 2020, to be in a more appropriate living space then head straight up to the Child Care Board and apply to be foster/adoptive parents. So when the possibility of Sam came along (He would be named like Hannah named her son in 1 Samuel 1:20), and not in our timing, I thought this was God again. I mean, how often are you introduced to a total stranger who is looking for a family for a baby?

Sam’s mom had no plan to have a baby in 2020. Wherever her life was going, a baby wasn’t supposed to be a part of it. She had enough courage to at least give the baby life, but after that, things would go back to normal. But then there was Corona. An unplanned delay in our plans meant she could, maybe, give her boy a proper goodbye. But for the first time, she allowed herself to imagine a new plan…a plan that included a baby.


The thing about hindsight being 2020 is that you have no idea what God is doing when you’re smack in the middle of it. So here we are…with our plans. And we’ll look back sometime from now and we’ll see the good in it all. We have more questions than answers right now. But we can look back at what God has already done. We know He is good. We know He only does what is best. We know He allows difficult things in our lives to help sandpaper our flaws away.

I’m drawing up new plans, but in pencil, then handing it to the Lord. Pray with us.
Bird.

Comments

  1. RobinhD8:22 pm, April 04, 2020

    Sigh. You are so right. It is hard to accept but God's plans and timing are always best.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mach4:50 pm, July 11, 2020

    God's plans and timing are not ours, but His will is the best thing that could ever happen in our lives. 🙏🏽

    ReplyDelete

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