"Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him— that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.
In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our "spiritual face" before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.
Don’t plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? "Love . . . thinks no evil" ( 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 ). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.
Don’t plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled . . ." (John 14:1 ). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command— "Let not. . . ." To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind." My Utmost For His Highest
I was so taken aback yesterday that everything worked out so perfectly! I had to praise You up and down after thinking about it! We painted all these amazing colors in our new house and I loved every one (except the one we had to change because it wasn't quite right, but then the new color was, so that was cool!). We got done with every room we wanted to paint, had 5 family helpers who were kind enough to paint and watch the kids. Just enough cans of coke, buy one get one free coupon for pizza for lunch, M's trip to get more paint at a perfect time to pick up dinner and extra supplies, just enough towels, rags, brushes, rollers, etc... And the list goes on!
I know that all things good are from You, Lord, so I thank You for the wonderful work You did through us and Your blessings just keep getting better! I ask You to continue to guide our decisions as we purchase appliances and complete the moving process. I ask for supernatural strength for the people loading, a time warp to get everything moved out quickly, patience and love as we're sure to get nicks and dings in the house and on our stuff, pacification for Genevieve as she is along for the ride and the milk, for Edward to have a wonderful time with his grandparents and cousins, and for all of us to just stick it out and be content with our situation until we can get back to normalcy in a new environment. Emotional and physical healing as we recuperate from the last couple months of change, and a renewed vigor of faith as we keep looking at You, Jesus, seeking Your face and learning to love and obey You. Help us reach out just at the times when we want to retreat inward. The best medicine is often serving others. Above all, let Your glory be shown to us and through us. Amen.
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