Finding Joy in God’s Plan

Well Mama, you’re still with me, I see!  I’m so glad!  Today, I want to share with you about joy.  But not just any joy.  The joy that comes when you least expect it.  The joy of knowing you’re living out God’s plan.

 

That kind of joy seems to sneak up out of nowhere and smack you in the face.  You’re living out your life and suddenly something happens and you realize, I must be doing exactly what God wants me to be doing because there’s no way you would have planned things out that way.  I want to share a story with you about a time in my life when that happened.  A story about a little girl we call Mum.

Finding Joy When Things Don’t Go as Planned

We’d had our first child just six months before.  I hadn’t even put away the newborn clothes yet.  I was breastfeeding and had only had one cycle.  We weren’t trying to get pregnant and although we weren’t exactly preventing it, we certainly weren’t planning it.  Then, all of a sudden, I had a feeling.  So I took a test.  And it said, “Pregnant”.  Never before has a word so changed my life.

You see, we had a plan.  We’d lived out that plan thus far.  I’d work a couple years, we’d pay off all our loans, we’d be debt free and able to live on one income, we’d have a baby, we’d wait a couple years and have another, and another, and so on.  Having a baby so soon after the first was not in our plans.  So we knew it must be in God’s plan.  

Joy Instead of Tears

The shock was overwhelming at first.  The fear, the anxiety, the stress drove me to tears more times than I’d like to say.  I’d never consider asking God to take a baby and I’d certainly never consider aborting a baby, but in those moments of stress, I felt the feelings that many moms feel when they decide to end their pregnancy. I was really not sure if I’d be able to be a good mom to H and to a new baby.  It just wasn’t part of the plan.  And that’s when it hit me.  A child is a blessing from God.  This baby was part of HIS plan.  When I accepted His plan, all the fear, the anxiety, and the stress dissipated.  I was FREE to embrace the joy of being in God’s will.

 

Now, that little baby is three years old.  She’s silly, fun, cute, and exactly the balance her big sister needs, the fun that her daddy needs, and the sweetness that her mommy needs.  You see, we’ve found our joy.  We accepted God’s plan for us (and after some questioning, embraced it!) and He blessed us in more ways than I could have imagined.  Little Mum is just what we needed, but we didn’t even know.  She was a perfect gift and has brought us so much joy.

So now, here’s you job.  Think of something today that is part of God’s plan that wasn’t part of yours.  Then…embrace it.  Find joy in it.  And thank God for it.  Then, come back and share with us here.  I need to hear your stories as much as you need to hear mine.