Oh the mystery of the unexpected and the unknown. I recently encountered something 'unexpected' that, by many, was seen as unfortunate and unpleasant, but I chose to have different view on the matter.
My family had been planning a beach gettaway for a week, using a relatives timeshare in North Myrtle Beach. All packed up and ready to go, we began driving, excited for the week of relaxation and tanning ahead! My first piece of advice, do NOT EVER rely on a GPS to take you the fastest way to your destination...that was our first mistake. We found ourselves riding in the back country, surrounded by corn fields and limited to a 35 mph speed limit. Anyway, we finally made it to our resort and came to find that the timeshare week we had available to us was not the week we got there...but for the week after. So what did we do, we packed up the car and headed right back home, this time not listening to the GPS and taking a better route.
If you've ever been in a situation like this, you were probably angry, upset, on the verge of tears...who knows, but feelings like that are only natural after you take off a week from work to relax in the sand and find your plans to be ruined. I could have very well become overwhelmed with anger and frustration, but instead, for some strange reason, which can only be explained by God working in my heart, I was rather at peace and grateful for what had happened. Yeah, it was rather tragic that we drove 3 hours to then turn around and drive back another three hours, but I am so grateful for the fact that we didn't miss our vacation, we only just arrived a week too early!
All I could think about, while driving back home, was the fact that God is in control of all things, has a plan for all that happens in my life, and knows what I can and cannot handle! We can't live life expecting things, events, plans to go our way and end up perfect. If we did, how would our faith grow? How would our dependence on God get stronger? Our faith wouldn't grow and our dependence on God would only weaken. We wouldn't need to turn to God in our times of need and wouldn't rely on him to get us through rough situations.
I know a simple ruined beach vacation isn't necessarily as important as say choosing which college to attend or deciding who you're going to spend the rest of your life with, but for each and every one of those decisions and events, God knows the final outcome and planned it according to his perfect will. So the next time you find yourself in one of these aggravating times, decide how you are going to react before you let your emotions get the best of you.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
~Kel
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