I Wrote The Ending In My Head

I think the obstacles, challenges, and hurdles in our life come in waves – in phases. It seems as if they have a rhythm to them. An ebb and a flow.

Sometimes, I think that rhythm is there due to my own actions, inactions, or beliefs.  I’m in a certain rhythm of my own. Whether it’s my pride, stubbornness, or selfishness oftentimes remains to be seen. But something in me needs to be rooted out and sifted. So challenge after challenge comes my way until I get the message; the point.

It seems we have a tough time grasping certain outcomes in life when they turn out differently than we’d planned. We prayed. We felt we did all the right things and yet the answer is decidedly different than what we felt it was supposed to be.

We wrote our own ending and the ending that really came about didn’t match up.

We sit in shock. Disbelief. Anger. Sometimes bitterness. We question, “Why?” and we rant, rave, and feel sorry for ourselves.

All because we didn’t leave God an opening to answer either way. We expected Him to answer OUR way.

Sometimes expectation is good. It’s good to pray with belief. But we also need to be prepared when God chooses to be God and do things His own way. Even if it feels like that’s the complete wrong way to us.

I’ve wrote the ending to my own tales so many times. I can’t even tell you. Very rarely do those endings turn out exactly as I’d written in my heart and head. Sometimes, they turn out better than I’d envisioned. But more often, they are very different. Not always bad, just different.  God has His own way of doing things. The BETTER way.

It’s okay to have agendas for our lives. It’s okay to write dreams and stories of what we want for them in our heads. And it’s even okay to start down those paths. But we need to remember to leave room for God to rewrite those stories into better ones. Every good story has ups, downs, tragedies and triumphs. We need to trust that His agenda for us is better than our own and know that whatever the end result is, it will be beautiful.

If we can leave space for the unplanned and unexpected, we will navigate our lives so much better and truly come out on top. Which is where I believe God wants us anyways.