Who Knew?

My beautiful daughter turned four this past week. She entered this world on May 4, 2007. My beautiful wife and I celebrate our anniversary on May 20. We were, in fact, married on May 20, 2007. My wife and I did not get married two weeks after she gave birth. We did not conceive a child out of wedlock.

Yet, sixteen days before I married my wife, my daughter was born. Who knew it would work out this way? No one could have told me that I would have two sons and a daughter, all born before I got married. It's not the way I would have imagined my life...but God did.

Of course, whenever I try to understand my life, and try to understand God, I'm rarely successful. I don't always understand God's plan for my life. I don't always get God's plan for ministry - but I sit and I wait and I pray and I listen. The prophet Jeremiah reminds us of God's words, "For I know the plans I have for you...." (Jeremiah 29:11). Are my plans the same as God's? If they're not, how can I align or abandon my plans to fall into God's will for my life?

I wouldn't have known four years ago what I know now. I wouldn't have the experiences I have now. God always has something greater in store for us than we could ever ask or imagine. My life is crazy and stressful and wonderful and exhilarating, and it's all because God has a plan for me. Who would have known it would be like this? I didn't, but because God is good, and I'm seeking to follow God's will, I trust that God's plan will become real, and all I experience (even the impossible out-of-order dates) will be what God wants for me.

Who knew? I didn't - but God did!