Our plans vs. God’s
plans
Plan ahead! Lay
out your schedule for the next year…five years…plan for
your children’s college education…plan for your retirement…etc.
We hear that all the time. It is all well and good to have a plan. Therefore
you fill up your calendar with your work schedule, family vacations,
church functions, etc. Next week, next month, next year…you go
on and on…far into the future.
“You probably
have six months to live.” The doctor tells me in late December
after being diagnosed with stage IV (advanced) metastatic renal cell
carcinoma. Wait a minute, this was not in my plans. What about my medical
mission planning trip to the Philippines in February? What about the
April medical mission there? Will I be around for Jeremy’s college
graduation in June? Kim’s sweet 16th birthday in September? My
own 49th birthday in October? Bryan’s 21st birthday in November?
Becky’s graduation from registered nursing school? I have no answers
or guarantees.
Suddenly my “plans”
go out the window and my calendar is quickly filled with new events
such as doctor’s visits, blood tests, x-rays, CT scans, bone scans,
brain MRIs, etc. There was the surgery in early January to remove my
right kidney and the attached tumor and the recovery from that major
surgery. Then on to USC/Norris Cancer Center in Los Angeles in early
February to begin the experimental immune system boosting drug therapy.
In the midst of all this is the constant pressure to “get your
house in order.”
Your prayers and
the immunotherapy treatments in February stopped the cancer growth for
a time. It bought me a little time, for how long – 6 weeks, 6
months – I don’t know. But I have added a few things back
into my greatly condensed calendar. We won a little battle but continue
to fight the war.
Now, more than
anytime ever before, I know I’m on God’s timetable. I will
breathe as long as He wants me to – disease or no disease. I will
redeem what precious time I have. But then again, do any of us know
what breath will be our last? Be prepared in case the Lord allows something
to come your way to mess up “your plans.” Be open to “His
plans.”
Philippians
1:12 (NIV) Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened
to me has really served to advance the gospel.
Proverbs 16:9
(NIV) In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his
steps.
Proverbs 19:21
(NIV) Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose
that prevails.
Jeremiah 19:11
(NIV) “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the
LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope and a future.”
-Doug Sutherland
