“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5
Four years ago, after Jesus took my mom to Heaven, my sisters and I made a vow to get together once a year. With each of us living in different parts of the United States, this takes some intentional long term planning, and Winter Break has tended to work best for all of our schedules, that is until last weekend!
The text message from my older sister arrived before the photo, and it briefly stated, “I think I may have ruined our Florida trip!!” Then the photo of her leg wrapped in a temporary cast arrived. As a result, she is scheduled to have surgery next week and our yearly reunion is temporarily on hold. Sometimes, curveballs cause disappointment!
Similarly, last Friday night, I received an email from United Airlines stating that they had cancelled the 8th Grade Class Trip’s 8:00 p.m. flight home on June 4th. In addition, they had taken the liberty to book us on a 3:00 p.m. flight, which will not work as we have already booked numerous “non-refundable” tickets for this date based on the previously scheduled time frame. Sometimes, curveballs cause panic!
As my head was spinning, I reached out to Mr. Topel to make him aware of the situation and asked for him to join me in prayer over this matter. He reassured me, "God's got this, and it will all work out!" I appreciated the truth and the peace of his reminder! After making numerous phone calls on Monday, Mr. Topel’s words of wisdom prevailed! In fact, God orchestrated a solution that can only be explained by His power, and the new plan is even much better than our original plan!
So how do you handle curveballs, as well as the emotions that they tend to bring, when things don’t go the way that you expected they should?
As I was starting to freak out, Mr. Topel’s advice was so true; take a pause, pray, and TRUST GOD!
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5
In this world, there will be circumstances and situations that we will not be able to control. In addition, there will be times that circumstances will not go according to OUR own plans. However, learning how to surrender these circumstances to the Lord may involve intentional reminders that we are not in control - God is, and He always knows what is best!
Don’t tell her that I shared this with you, but the same sister with the broken heel is a terrible passenger to ride with. When I am the driver, she is constantly telling me what to do: "slow down”, “watch out”, or “go here”. I solved this problem last year by putting her in the backseat when I drive! This way, she can’t see where we are going! Sometimes, we too need to remember that God is in control, and He doesn’t need us telling Him what to do! We need to trust that He knows what He is doing, and He will work all things out for good. We just need to climb into the backseat and let Him drive!
Have a wonderful week enjoying the view from the backseat!
In Jesus’ Love,
Mrs. Palka