Just as I Planned!

Life…when you’re young, you think you have it all figured out – that everything will go just as planned! As a planner, I love when life allows me to live according to my Plan A….but the reality is: I live in Plan B! IN PRAISE OF PLAN B… Moving from “What is” to “What can be” is the title of a fabulous book by Dr. Tim Kimmel. He shares story after story of individuals and couples who have learned that there is adventure and even (at times) excitement when one allows God to orchestrate a different plan that our own…thus…Plan B! It’s hard for most of us to live in Plan B – primarily because we like things our own way. After all, when we take the time, energy, and sometime even finances to plan something, it’s nice when it works out. But the problem is this: life seldom turns out like we planned or hoped. There might be:

• The postponed vacation because the house needed repairs
• The interview and dream job that the competition gets
• The ministry opportunity that you thought was yours and someone else is chosen
• The school play director that overlooks your talent
• A special needs child
• A failed relationship
• Disappointment
• Discouragement
• Depression (sometimes)

But, as Tim says, if we are open to Plan B, it might be “…a powerful new launch pad to achieve lifelong dreams – in work, marriage, family, finances, education, and even moral and ethical challenges.” Our ordinary living and deep disappointments can be transformed into something extraordinary! While I had minor shifts in my hopes and dreams through childhood and as a young adult, it wasn’t until I called off my engagement at age 23 that I experience a shift from Plan A to Plan B. But 2 ½ years later, the door was opened to meet the man I would eventually marry, and indeed that plan was far better than my original one! Life was good-even great as we established our life together and began our family 2 years into our marriage with our son Joey. We had no idea that the perfect bundle of love we held in our arms would catapult us from our Plan A to God’s Plan B. Within the first year of his little life, we began recognizing severe delays in his development as we learned of his cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and eventual epilepsy (that manifested as gran mal seizures). The shock was so great that it began to settle in every area of our lives as we realized our Plan A would never be. Fast forward 30 years…we’ve learned a lot about life, relationships, patience, late nights, etc. and through all the challenges of doctors, therapists, diagnosis, education, programs and teachers, we’ve come through the other side and see the beauty and reality of God’s wonderful Plan B. We’ve become:

• More patient (not perfect!)
• More focused on others than ourselves
• More willing to serve – not just when it’s convenient, comfortable and easy, but whenever it’s needed (24/7) and whenever we know it’s the right thing to do
• Friends with some wonderful people who share our journey
• Survivors who’ve lived to tell about it and can help and encourage others

And that is what you’ll find in Tim’s book: help and encouragement that gets you not only from Plan A to Plan B, but from point A to point B in your thinking, your obedience and your life. We’ve learned from Dr. Kimmel, that when Point B first arrives, it seldom looks good, but he takes the reader through each story showing how God can work in and through a life to a point of celebration  – soaring above any of the roadblocks we think there are. We have. You can, too!

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Family Matters February Resource of the Month :: In Praise of Plan B

Buy In Praise of Plan B ($10.49) : 30% off in February