Here's the Plan...

Recently, the course of my life has taken several very unexpected turns. These past few weeks, I have been reminded of prominent figures such as Joseph, Job, Peter, and Paul as I've watched God shift and form aspects of my life in ways that I had not expected, understood, or desired. I am continually amazed at how little my planning ever seems to actually come to fruition. God has always been more than faithful to me but I cannot remember a single instance when I got what I wanted exactly the way I wanted.
I am officially out of work, and just like every other college student in America, I am financially s-t-r-a-i-n-e-d. My husband and I are both broke students who are way over-committed and now job-hunting and schedule shifting have been added to our list. Things in our home are not exactly calm right now. Even at this crazy, scary, chaotic time in our lives, God has plopped a life-changing, plan-shattering calling into our laps. I never really was quite sure if I wanted to be a mother; as a matter of fact, I was never sure if I wanted to get married, but now my husband and I are in the process of becoming foster parents. In our conversations about employment, budgeting, school, life-plans, and ministry, my husband and I went over option after option and plan after plan for what we're supposed to be doing at this point in our lives. I'm ashamed to admit that neither of us were really listening for what God had to say. Even so, just before I left my job, we had this total "God moment" and just knew that foster care was right. We've prayed about it and talked with some people. Now we're swimming in legal paper work and loving every minute of it. All this is just to say that God's providence and sovereignty are truly amazing. I think we (Christians) get so used to our theological jargon that we forget how amazing it is that God truly embodies those words and so many more. He is totally in control and the craziest part is that He actually uses small creatures such as us to glorify himself. Even when my life isn't going how I want or expect(which is pretty much every day), I know that my life is being used to make God look beautiful, and isn't that the plan?
Just for fun, here is a list of events in my life that I either did not plan, or were the exact opposite of what I had planned:

• getting married
• getting married to a Minister
• moving to AZ
• not going to a Christian college
• Being a Special Education teacher (actually, becoming ANY kind of teacher)
• being Reformed
• working with children/youth
• reconciling with my family
• not being over 5 ft tall
• owning my own home
• foster parenting (or any parenting)