“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.’ You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it.”
James 4:13–17
I’m not where I planned to be tonight.
I made plans. I had circled dates on my calendar and let anticipation grow all summer. I was excited about everything I expected to do over the next week. But God had a different plan.
And His plan included my plans, the ones that I had looked forward to for literally months, being tossed aside so I could do something difficult and very uncomfortable instead.
So what is a daughter of the King to do when His plan is nothing like my plan?
Praise Him.
- Praise Him for the opportunity and ability to serve someone who really needs me.
- Praise Him for using difficult circumstances to grow me spiritually.
- Praise Him for the assigning me to wash feet.
- Praise Him for keeping me too busy to notice the date or mourn a sad anniversary.
- Praise Him for providing exactly what I need every single day.
- Praise Him for answering every prayer.
- Praise Him for supernatural, unexplainable peace in the face of a big disappointment.
- Praise Him for His sovereignty and goodness.
Scripture reminds us:
“Give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18
I don’t have to understand what God is doing in order to trust Him. In fact, true trust flourishes when there is no understanding—when I can’t see the reason, but I can rest in His character.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5–6
God is completely sovereign. He is infinitely wise. He is always good. And He loves His children with a love that cannot fail. He knows what I do not know. He sees the whole story while I only glimpse a page at a time.
So often, I’ve prayed for something small and God has answered abundantly more:
- When I prayed for a small bonus, He provided more than I could have imagined.
- When I prayed for a single meal, He set a feast before me.
“Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20–21
If I can rejoice when He answers my prayers with more than I asked, then I must also trust Him when He answers with something different—or even the opposite—of what I prayed for. His ways are higher than mine, and His plan is always better, even when I cannot yet see how.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways. This is the Lord’s declaration. For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8–9
Disappointments will come. That is part of life in a fallen world. We cannot choose what happens to us, but we can choose how we respond.
As for me, I choose to respond with praise.
“I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.”
Psalm 34:1
a surrendered life 