by Kati Woods

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:9

 Prepared. What does that word mean to you? Ready? On the ball? Equipped? To make ready before hand?
So. Be prepared…for what? The day? Dinner? Company coming over? Moving? Traveling? You can be prepared for almost anything. In your mind, that is.

What about this word: Planned. What does this word mean to you? A method or scheme worked out ahead of time? A course of action prepared before hand? A paper with words or lines on it to show exactly what is going to happen?
But what happens when everything doesn’t go to way you planned. If you prepared for everything except for that one thing that just came out of no where.

What if…your husband received orders, you packed up your house so that the renters could move in before you left town, you moved in with your parents (just for two or three weeks at the most!), and then…you get the call…his orders have been extended.

Let me give you a run down of the last three months of my life.
“Okay. Deep breath. No big deal. Home-school the boys for another two or three weeks. They’ll be able to catch up after missing only a month. Besides, stores have those handy workbooks that come in every grade level. Have they called yet, honey? No? I would like you to please call Headquarters and see what’s going on. What? More paperwork? Okay. Submitted. It’s been a week, honey, can you please call again? What? ANOTHER check up for the kids? Okay, I’ll set the appointment. Honey, did you fax the results over? What did they say? They don’t know anything? Honey, it’s been four days, have you gotten any calls? We are approved? The boys aren’t? What? More paperwork? Sigh. Okay. Done. Honey, it’s been a week can you please call? What? They should know in six days? Again? We’ve been extended again? Okay. Do you think we’ll be here for Thanksgiving? Probably? Okay. We have a date? That’s great? Oh, more paperwork? Another check up with a different name on it? Okay. Appointment set and done. Paperwork faxed in. What? What do you mean we’ve been extended again? Okay, we put the boys in school again. They called? After Christmas? Sigh. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THEY‘RE DOING?”

I was prepared, dang it! Our move was planned out! It’s the Marine Corps! But guess what? I forgot something. There is someone higher up than the United States Marine Corps. Yes plans were made, but they were MY plans, not God’s. He apparently had something else in mind for our little family.

Psalms 33:10 “The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.”

“I don’t mind it, there are worse things that could happen but I just wish God would have given me a heads up ahead of time.” I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve said that over the past three months. And I truly believed it. Even when I started figuring out all the blessing that were coming out of our time here I still wished that God had let me know His plans ahead of time.

Then one Sunday, during Bible Study, a lady piped up after my comment: “God told Jonah His plan ahead of time and look what he did.”

Gasp! Light bulb! What if I had known? I’m not gonna even try to lie. I. Would. Have. Run!

Three months with my parents? In itty bitty Deer Lodge, Montana? Are you kidding me? I would have stayed in Helena and kept working!

In hindsight I can see all that I would have missed. Hours and hours of just talking with my husband and playing with my children. Cooking for my Mom and Dad. Getting to really know some really wonderful people in Deer Lodge. Horse back riding. House sitting. Adult conversations with my parents. Reading. Writing. Getting to just relax. Biking in the autumn leaves and decorating a Christmas Tree with my parents again. Watching my husband build a remote control truck and then smiling as he laid on his stomach to maneuver it up and down the stairs. Walks with a new friend. Watching my boys find new friends. Oh so many blessings and I would have missed them all!

Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.”

What is going on in YOUR life? Have YOU made plans? Were they made WITH God’s blessing, with prayer ahead of time or did you just plan it out and ask for His input later?

We have the tickets now. My husband signed the papers that said that if we did not check in at the airport we will pay the Marine Corps back the money they spent on the tickets. And yes, I know even that is not guaranteed, but I’m okay with it now. I’m at peace because His ways ARE higher than mine.

Does anyone know what they’re doing? God does!

“Father. Sometimes it’s so hard to put our lives in Your hands. To commit our paths to You and trust that You have everything under control. I am guilty of trying to control and plan and prepare to the point that I miss out on You calling to me and telling me that it’s not yet Your time. Forgive me for my doubt.
I praise You for Your many blessings, for Your patience and Your understanding. Now I bring before you…(your personal requests). In Your Name I pray, Amen.”

Isaiah 25:1 “O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.”

Side note: By the time you read this, Wives in Bloom members, I will be…should be…might be…in Okinawa, Japan. God willing.

About the Author:
Kati is a Marine wife, and mother of two active boys. She has been happily married for almost nine years. She loves reading, writing and teaching.  She loves to travel and move!  She has lived in seven states (two of them twice!) and is about to move to Okinawa Japan.