Delayed for something greater

Sometimes we can be in such a hurry in life that we don't sit back and allow God to take the lead. We make our plans for the day, the week, the month, the year; for our lives without asking God, "What do YOU want me to do?".

I experienced some, "not in my plans, but in God's plans" events upon this weekend. I had my weekend vacation for my family reunion all mapped out.

1. Go to work.
2. Get off, drop mom off to grandmothers.
3. Take niece to camp after she, myself and her brother has breakfast (the service took so long we had to take it to go).
4. Go home and nap before work this night.
5. Get rental car at 8pm (they don't take debit cards so had to go back home to get credit card----they messed up transaction, had to delete it and tried to swipe card again---DECLINED due to security features on card, Thrifty/Dollar Car Rentals tells me "sorry, not my problem, we cant rent you a car". I leave defeated and very troubled (because I had this ALL PLANNED OUT)! My nephew had to go to work with me, I had not taken a bath so I had to shower at work and put on hospital scrubs (God knows how to bless you in your storm---BRIGHTER SIDE: I work where I can get clean clothes to wear). I burst into tears because once again, "I" had this all planned out and it's not going the way "I" had planned it.
6. The next morning, departure day; I had to deal with trying to get another rental car. The one I had reserved gave me a good price, will I be able to get that same deal? Yes, God sent me to Budget/Avis at Indpls International Airport, they allowed me to use my debit (I'm trying to eliminate credit cards), they gave me a slightly higher price (which I was totally appreciative) and we were on our way..........

.......Wait, not the end of this story. We noticed that the car we had rented was too small for the amount of people and luggage we had "planned" on bringing along so we went back in to upgrade. Once again, LOOK AT GOD, He put it on the heart of the manager to go ahead and rent us the full sized SUV even when he wasn't wanting to (it's the holiday and they needed that vehicle for another customer) and at a slightly elevated price. Now, we were really on our way........

.......Wait!
7. The purpose of us renting a larger vehicle which was $200 greater than what we would have paid for the smaller vehicle was because someone else was "planned" to ride with us. She bailed out without bothering to phone us to let us know.....We're stuck with this more expensive rental and we no longer need it!

......Wait, and look at God again, he put it on Budget/Avis managers heart again to allow us to downgrade TWO car sizes less than we originally booked, at a greatly lesser rate than what we were paying, although we had already driven off with the other car and had it for several hours, we didn't have to pay for any of that rental, we drove off paying $250 less than we were originally going to pay.

We left 4 hours later than we "planned", had less people than we "planned", got the vehicle from a different company than we "planned", got the vehicle on a different day than we "planned", got to Detroit later than we "planned", and through all that planned unplanned chain of events.....What God had "planned" was so much greater than we could have "planned"!


Moral to this story is, allow Christ into your plans. Consult with Him. Get His input on what your life should be. The man/woman you may have "planned" to marry might be a major step down from what God had "planned" for you. The career you may have "planned" may be completely less rewarding than the career God has "planned" for you. The house you may have "planned" to purchase may be much square footage smaller than what God has "planned" for you. That business venture you "planned" to start may cause you to take greater steps than the business God "planned" for you. The testimony you "planned" to give may have a lesser power than the testimony God has "planned" for you to give. Be open with the changes in your life that you couldn't control, God may just be setting you up for the GREAT THINGS that He has "planned" for you!


Love ya!

Schawayna Raie