The best laid schemes of mice and men {and bloggers} oft go awry

Hello friends~  Yep.  This title says it all.  If you read my pre-Valentine’s Day post with all of those cute ideas I planned on doing as I shared the love of God to my family and friends and wondered why you didn’t get yours… It’s because my plans went awry.  Big time. As in “The-Stomach-Virus-Attacked-This-Family-With-A-Vengeance-And-We-Did-Well-To-Raise-Our-Heads-For-Two-Days” big time.   Yuck!  Big Nate was the only one of us who stayed well, and I attribute that to prayers and to the fact that we sequestered him in the guest room (meals and everything) and didn’t let him come around us until we were better and Lysol-ed up.  I missed him.  Abigail and James were the worse, and I had the “mom’s version” – what many of the mothers around here had – which was mercifully not as bad so that we could take care of the others.   I slept on the couch and dressed in mask and gloves anytime I left it.  Three full cans of Lysol later, I praise God to say that we are all up and around again.

So Valentines? Schmalentines! … It certainly wasn’t what I had planned it to be.  So family, friends, teachers, school employees, and church office staff… that’s why the Walkers were strangly silent on this year’s Day-O-Love.

I did, however, manage to paint my toe nails.

That’s about all I’ve accomplished this week.  That and serving my sick family.  Which when put that way, I guess it was a lot…exactly what I was supposed to be doing.  And I’m so thankful to have had the strength, energy, and time to do it.   All of those cute little Valentine’s Day ideas will just have to wait until next year.  Somehow, I think that by now, surely my family knows how loved they are.  😉

Yes… the best laid plans of ours oft go astray.  When this  happens, I sure am glad to know that God’s plans don’t go awry.  There is a settled peace about knowing that even though I am shocked when I don’t get to do the things on my daily calendar page, God is not.  Dr. Adrian Rogers used to remind us that God is not wringing His hands and calling an emergency session of the Holy Trinity to decide what to do.  Ever.  (My friend Melanie reminded me of that saying just this week.)  What wonderful news!

Corrie Ten Boom said, “There is no panic in Heaven.  Only plans.” 

Have your plans gone awry lately?  If you are walking with the Lord in obedience to His Word, you can rest assured that His plans for you are to be exactly where you are.  Jeremiah 29:11 tells us “ For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.”

What a gift God’s good plans for us are.  We can trust that whatever He has allowed to touch us has been sifted through His sieve of welfare, peace, and hope in our final outcomes.  Whether or not we can call them “good” at the present time.

The best laid schemes of mice and men {and bloggers} oft go awry.  But praise to Almighty God that this is true of Him:  “Many plans are in a man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s purpose for him that will stand.”  Proverbs 19:21

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends… in whatever it is that you and God have planned.  🙂