We have a tradition of having my daughter’s boyfriend over for dinner on Saturday nights.  On this particular weekend, he was home from college, so I planned to “pull out all of the stops” to fix him a nice, home-cooked meal.  We were having chicken lasagna, filled with yummy noodles and cheesy goodness.   I had gathered my recipe, looked over the ingredients, and declared that I was good to go. 
My plans started to fall apart at 3 pm that afternoon when I realized that I had eaten our last egg (a lasagna ingredient) for breakfast.  So I borrowed an egg from a neighbor and got back to the plan.  Then at 5 pm I realized that the organic chicken thighs from Costco, that were in date, were rotten.  I could not serve our guest of honor rotten meat, so it got tossed.  As I was trying to figure our new dinner plans, I started getting a migraine and I couldn’t think straight.  As my husband grabbed a frozen pizza out of the freezer for us to eat, I laid on the dirty kitchen floor curled up in a position of defeat.

I give up.  I will not serve up a tasty, memorable homemade dinner to my family, but a sodium-filled Digiorno pizza instead.

Life is the same way.  When we are young, we envision how our lives will play out.  We play with our Barbie and Ken dolls in our Barbie “Dream Houses” and we dream about  what our grown-up lives will look like.  And then when we arrive at our grown-up lives, they don’t look at all like what we had planned.

We envisioned a fairy-tale marriage…we ended up divorced instead.  We planned on having a house full of perfectly-behaved children and had some wild, strong-willed children instead.  We dreamed of a rewarding, lucrative career and we ended up checking out groceries at Wal-Mart instead.  Our dream house and dream car are occupied by other, more successful people.  And of course, our toned, firm and youthful bodies are no longer looking that way.

And there we lay on a dirty kitchen floor in a position of defeat.  We give up.  Forget the plans.  We can’t do this anymore.

“I know,” Jesus whispers. “I know.  Here, let Me.  Let Me do it for you.  Let go of your plans for your perfect life, and embrace My plans for your life.  I promise, My plans are better than yours, and are in your best interest.   I am good, and My plans for your life are good.  You can trust Me.”

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

I know that life is full of disappointment.   It is full of broken dreams and pain and lost hope.  It is full of rotten chicken and missing eggs and migraines.  But get up, girl.  You don’t have to stay on that dirty floor in defeat. Lay down your plans, get up with Jesus, and embrace the hope and rest that He offers.   Trust Him, and you will find rest for your soul.

What will you do?  Stay on the floor, or rise up with Jesus?  I’m getting up with you, girl.

What about you?  In what ways have your plans for your life come to naught?  Reply to this email or leave and comment and let me know. 

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