HELP! My day is not going as I planned!

     I planned, I prepared and them I planned some more.  With boxes aside each of the items on my to-do
list, it was my desire that each one would be checked off by the end of my day.  Enthusiastically, I started the day with a prayer, "Lord, may Your will be done in my life today. Help me to accomplish all that I have set out to do for Your glory. Amen."  The day started and just as quickly, all my plans fell apart.  Things were not going to go the way I had anticipated.
     Maybe your have found yourself in my shoes.  Having diligently planned things out, your circumstances change, things come up and in frustration and disappointment you feel like everything totally flew out of control.  Time is a precious commodity.  Planning and scheduling is a good thing but what is our response when it all falls apart? How should we respond on a daily basis when things don't go our way?

Refocus
     As human beings we are notorious at living for the wrong things.  When we should be living for Christ, our focus often get's fogged over with school work to complete, children who need cared for and housework that can't be put off any longer.  When your plans fall apart, have you ever stopped to look and see what you are picking up?  Are the fragments you collect things that are eternally important or temporally insignificant? All to often I find myself picking up the pieces of a misguided course where the temporary has become more important to me than the things that have eternal value.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Colossians 3:2

    The higher purpose in whatever we do should be to glorify God and serve Him, not man.  As you pick up the pieces of your plan gone bad, take the opportunity to refocus on Christ.  As you set your sight on Him, the aim of your day will no longer be to check things off a list, but rather to honor, serve and glorify Him.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. 

You are serving the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:23-24

~

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31

Yield

     Often, I imagine myself scurrying around like the mice in Cinderella.  As the beads of my plans fall to the ground, scattered as the loose thread of my limited control is pulled apart, I frantically try to pick them up and grasp them with a clutching hand, not wanting to let any of them go.  But God asks that we hold our plans loosely, offering them to Him.  As Leslie Ludy once put it, we must yield to Him on a moment by moment basis throughout our day.  Let us lay our plans at the feet of our Savior, that they might become submissive to His will.  My petition to the Lord the other day went something like this:

"Lord, this is not what I had in store for my day but it is what you have laid before me.  Help me to lay down my will and joyfully take up Yours with a willing heart.  I can't do this on my own, please help me." 

Simply surrender! 

Praise Him with Thanksgiving!

Give thanks in all circumstances...

1 Thessalonians 5:18

~  When the baby is screaming and the toddler just wrote on the wall...give thanks.
~  When everyone is sick and caring for them takes priority over schoolwork...give thanks.
~   When life is overwhelming and nothing goes your way...give thanks.

     Giving thanks doesn't mean always having an optimistic outlook on circumstances.  Life is hard and isn't always filled with roses.  That is why our ability to offer praise to God must not be tied to our circumstances.  Instead let our praise pour forth from hearts enamored with who He is and what He has done.  Thank God for your circumstances because I can assure you two things, He is in control of them and He has a purpose for them in your life.  Offer thanksgiving to God for who He is and what He is doing in your life!  And let me tell you, the product of thanksgiving is unhindered joy. 

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 106:1

*This verse is repeated 7 times throughout

 the Old Testament!* 

     You never know what life is going to throw at you!  But may you be assured that even when your plan seems to be falling apart it might just be beginning to fall into place.  Take this opportunity to offer your life to God afresh, yielding to His plan and praising Him every moment of every day!
 Soli Deo Gloria!
(Glory to God alone)