When Things Don't Go As Planned

When Things Don’t Go As Planned

You’ve been planning a nice weekend getaway with your three good friends. The reservations are made; the spending money has been set aside. All you have to do now is gas up the car and you’re on your way tomorrow morning. Upon getting into bed, you get a phone call from one friend who tells you there has been a family emergency and they will not be able to make it. They still want you and the others to go and have a fun time, but now that the one friend won’t be able to make it, your other friends don’t think it’s a good idea that they go now. So, it’s the eve of this vacation you have been planning and it’s ruined within ten minutes. It’s official, things haven’t gone as planned.

Trust God

It can be so frustrating to know that the plans you have worked so hard for are now a bust, but trust God. His doing always has a reason. Have you ever heard those stories where someone misses an important flight, only to find out that important flight crashed, and they thank God they missed that flight? Even if you haven’t heard or read of a story like that, there are similar stories where someone’s plans didn’t go as planned, only to find out in the end that it was a blessing that it didn’t go as planned. Possibly if that weekend getaway went as planned one of your friends would have done something to ruin each friendship or… you get the point. The point is to trust in God. He has his reasons. You may not understand at the time but when you’re ready, God will let you know.

Don’t Force the Plans

It’s obvious that the weekend getaway is no longer set in motion, it’s stalled. You may not want to reschedule and keep pushing to see this through, after all, you put a lot of money down on this trip. However, don’t force it. That means don’t force or peer pressure your friends into still going. As well, do not attempt to guilt trip them into going against their decision not to go. This could and most likely blow back up in your face. Respect their decision that they don’t want to go. Better yet, if you still can’t take no for an answer, suggest that your friends sleep on the idea and call them in the morning. It sounds lame, but after a well nights rest, people are usually better at making decisions. Possibly two of your other friends will decide they want to go through with the trip after all. The important thing is to respect your friends and their decisions.

Pray and Pray

At times it may be hard to shake off your frustration but the quickest way to do that is to pray. It doesn’t have to be this long diatribe of how things are now ruined, but talk to God. Let Him know how frustrated you are but also ask him to help you get over it. The thing is that you’re not in control and when things do go as planned, it’s a reality check that no one is in control, only God is. Don’t hold anything back from God while praying. He already knows your hearts deepest desires, as well as every thought that has ever passed through your mind. Open up to Him like you would one of your three good friends. Sometimes the plans we make don’t go through because it’s God’s way of wanting us to show that we trust Him and know everything is on His time, not ours.

A great tool for prayer is the Prayer Rope, find out more in this article.

You may also like: