Guidance -- Plan: A or Plan: Z?

One of the firm convictions that many Christians have is that out lives are purposeful. God knows about us before we were born. The very number of our days and the very hairs on our head are known. We are not here by accident. God has made us unique, and has plans for us. 

The question is what does that look like?

I remember getting my first iPhone in it’s beautiful white shiny box, wrapped in cellophane. Sitting down and slowly pulling the box open. And there it was! Pristine and perfect in all its ways. Not a scratch or blemish. Just breathtaking and full of promise.

Is God’s “plan” for our life like that?

I can  remember coming back to faith as a Uni student many years ago and getting really excited by a verse that was  going round at the time:

“… 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….” Jeremiah 29:11   (NIV)

I dreaming about how this perfect plan would unfurl winding down the year! The perfect family, the perfect job, butterflies, rainbows, perfect health, maybe fame and fortune. Maybe my own Wikipedia entry as one of the great heroes of the age.

But within a month I began to wonder. I had a really bad patch and did some foolish things that certainly would NOT have been part of Plan: A. Did that mean I was now on Plan: B? I’d better be careful.