Heaven's Got a Plan for You

I wrote a blog post a couple weeks ago when I was feeling really down that I don't want to share because I think I wrote it more for me than for you, but basically, a couple of things were happening in my life at the time and with the combination of the two, I felt like I wouldn't make it through. One of those things bringing me down was that my dog was sick. We didn't know what was wrong but the veterinarian didn't sound hopeful which resulted in my mom and I feeling doomed. We have been through so much in the past four years so to think that our dog was going to leave us unexpectedly felt like the end. We weren't ready. We weren't prepared. We knew this couldn't be happening. We prayed for him but after many tears, eventually accepted that we were going to lose him. But were we?

Sometimes things in life happen and you just don't understand them. Actually, most of the time things in life can't be understood. It seems like God's way of doing things is the complete opposite of ours. God wants to break us. Not physically and not intentionally but when our selfish nature eventually takes over, we lose sight of him. Because of this, he uses situations like the one with Bentley to mold us. If it weren't for tragedies or pain, we'd never need God. So even though we don't always get what we want, God is using those hard times in our life to bring us closer to him! I've seen it work, even if I didn't feel an immediate pull towards God. So don't let the sin of the world drag you down. Be a witness through it and trust that there's a plan in it all.

And for us, this time the plan ended up being an answer to prayer. Bentley seems to be doing a little better! We're not sure yet if he is completely healed and we still may have to try a few other options but we see improvement and most likely, what he has can be cured with eye drops (hopefully!). Easy enough, right? If he wasn't so afraid of those eye drops, yeah, it would be easy. Haha! But anyway, when I found out that we had jumped to conclusions and that Bentley was probably going to be fine, I felt a heavy, burdening weight lifted from me. I let fear get in the way of me living the joyful life that I want to live and although that's bound to happen sometimes, I should have trusted in God's plan more.

This week, I challenge you to give up what you want for your life and pray more about what God wants for your life. The minute I started doing that was the minute I felt peace. I was no longer in control and it actually felt good.