When Life Has A Plot Twist

Do you have a Christmas tradition you love? For me, it’s waking up on Christmas morning to our Christmas Breakfast Casserole.  Oh it is amazing! Egg. Cheese. Sausage. Hash browns. Peppers. Onions. Not to mention the smell of the coffee brewing. Oh baby!

A couple of years ago, our tradition was in jeopardy because of a hash brown shortage.  We drove to several stores and there were NONE! I’m like, “why now!!”  So, my wife, Patty, improvised and we swapped out hash browns for: Tater Tots. It was a little weird…but I wasn’t about to get a fail on Christmas morning.

Sometimes, life gets in the way. You have the perfect plan, and then something becomes more of a “fail”.  Like when your son says, “I want a Buzz lightyear Cake…

So, you hunt the web to get a step by step and spend hours making it, and it turns out like…

Then, just when you get over that moment, your daughter says, “I want an Elsa cake”.

The first time with Buzz, was a learning lesson. So, after studying pics, you know you’ve got this!! You open the oven and…

Your Plan A expectation looks like:

Plan B Reality looks like:

Just like a good movie, life has a plot twist. Plan A turns into Plan B!

In high school, I did all the music and arts things: theater, music theater, solo and ensemble. I loved music so I thought, let’s do it for a career.

So, I went to college in Chicago. I was going to be a music teacher with a minor in, ready for this, Opera.  No joke. But it wasn’t until I got to college, and saw people practicing for 6 plus hours a day, that I realized I didn’t have a passion for it. So, I switched my major to broadcasting. Major curveball!

So, I left the big city of Chicago and headed to GVSU. The girl I was dating dumped me like a bad Elsa Cake. It was devastating. Those life interruptions weren’t my plan A or B… but it was God’s plan for me.

Maybe, like me, you’ve experienced something that happened when you least expect it – and they’re the ones that change us the most. Whether good or bad, they affect us from that point on. In the moment, we might not be too happy about it – I thought I had the girl of my dreams in the big city of Chicago – but in hindsight, I see how that event grew me. I’m sure you have something too. It changes you, creates new relationships, taught us something, or gave a new perspective.

This isn’t new, the Bible is full of people asking “why now” after their plan A didn’t happen…Noah’s life took a big turn from farmer to boat builder, and I’m sure that Daniel didn’t plan on hanging out in the lions den. God has a way of interrupting plan A’s with his own plans, doesn’t he?

God doesn’t ever tell us bad things won’t happen, instead, he promises that he will be with us – never abandon, never fail, never stop loving us. But, when those hard things happen it can feel like he broke his promise.  Did he?  He said he’d be with you.  He says, he loves you in a mess of it all.  He asks, can you trust me?

I spoke to someone the other day who has a husband battling cancer and Parkinson’s disease. This is not her Plan A.  She is obviously in a lot of pain watching her husband battle, and suffer, she said, “The world’s gonna try to break me, but I know the one who makes me strong”.  She is trusting God, knowing Jesus is there.

I recently read of someone who is being wrongly accused of something. It’s created a mess in their family. Yet, they are praying for their accuser. And, praying for truth and integrity.

Yes, situations will come. Hard diagnoses, accidents, flat tires, broken dreams…and in it all – God is saying, “Will you trust me?” 

“I will never fail you.
    I will never abandon you”.

Heb 13:5 (NLT)

No matter what happens, small or huge, He’s with you and won’t fail you. You’re never abandoned. 

There’s a wonderful line in the song, “Firm Foundation” by Cody Carnes song that says, “He won’t fail. He won’t fail. He won’t.”

You’ll have a ‘why now’ moment this week. Maybe even as you leave log off.  Check your reaction. You’ll see where your trust lies.  I’m not saying that when have flat tires or need car repairs, that you won’t get frustrated, or that life won’t get interrupted with something hard. But how you respond can change.

When you trust who God is and what he says of you, cultivated through gratitude and remembering that He is with you, it changes us – it is part of the transformational work of God in us.

He won’t fail. Go make a difference. Always run by faith.

A message inspired by Betsy Marvin