Let God Ruin Your Plans
When I married Vic in 2007, I certainly did not plan for him to have health challenges and to become a caregiver at 32 years old, surely we had decades to go before we’d ever have to face anything like that.
God had other plans…
When I had Miles in 2016, I imagined he’d hit every milestone and be a gregarious talkative little boy just like his dad. Honestly, I had never even heard much about or directly encountered what it meant to have a child with developmental delays.
God had other plans…
Matter fact, God ruined my plans - and quite specifically my plans to have a simple, easy, wrapped up in a pretty bow, carefree, instagram-worthy life. I imagined Vic and I being a very active couple, traveling all over the place, always out and about. I also imagined being in a position to not have to work during Miles’ early years so that I could devote all of my time to him; but those were not His plans for me or my family. God’s plans for The Dean family look different than what we would have chosen but they are better.
I’ve lost count of how many ER visits and hospital stays we’ve had, but I do know that each and every one has created a relentless sense of devotion that Vic and I have for each other - perhaps more than the bonding experiences that traveling and exploring the world could bring. I work a full-time, full-demand job that at times has me feeling like I’m a day late and a dollar short for my son’s needs - but the working-mom life struggle has developed within me some of my greatest strengths - I hustle, I’m resourceful, I have a high-tolerance for stress, and on really good days I am every woman (if I do say so myself).
The plans I made for my life short-changed my strength. The plans God made for me produced humility and gave me grit, two qualities that have been clutch in my understanding how to navigate this life.
Whatever your plans are in life, submit them before The Lord and let Him crush them if He so chooses. If He does, it will only be because His ways and His thoughts toward us are greater than we can conceive.
“‘For I know the plans I have for you’ - this is the Lord’s declaration - ‘plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’ ”
