….But God

My name is Amber Carrington,” the young woman began. “I was told that you might be able to help me.” Quickly I moved closer to my answering machine so I wouldn’t miss a word. “My husband divorced me three months ago. I have an eighteen-month-old little boy.” With barely a pause, she continued: “I have no money and just got fired from a job I only had for two weeks because my car battery went dead and I couldn’t get to work. I don’t know what to do. I hope you’ll call me back.”

With a heavy heart I sank into my chair and listened to the message again. Had I heard her correctly? Had all these terrible things just happened to this young mother?

We don’t have to look long or far to see people whose lives are anything but what they had anticipated they would be.  We all start out with preconceived notions of what our lives will be like. For many, that includes some combination of education, marriage, children, and career. I have yet to meet a person who said, “I hope to get married and divorced, see my child go to prison, contract a terminal illness, and get fired from my job.” Such events are never part of a person’s Plan A life.

WHAT IS PLAN B?                                                              

Plan B is what you didn’t expect.  The Plan B (“morning-after pill”) advertising slogan is, “Because the unexpected happens.”

Your Plan B may be

• Not getting married.

• Going back to work although you wanted to stay home with your children.

• Modeling Christ to a husband you thought was going to model Christ to you.

• Pursuing a different career than you’d planned.

• Saying no to a marriage proposal.

• Using your savings to take care of medical bills rather than travel.

• Being housebound caring for a loved one rather than meeting your friends for Bible study or lunch.

• Being confined due to health problems rather than being active and social.

• Watching other children win academic and athletic awards while your child struggles in school.

The list could go on forever—because the unexpected happens.

Does the “B” in Plan B have to stand for “bad”?  No, as a matter of fact, the “B” can stand for “blessings.”

The next time Plan B hits you smack dab in the face, say, “This car accident…, the turmoil in this relationship…., my financial problems…, etc. may be horrible, BUT GOD is with me.  He is faithful.  I’ll look to Him.”

Interject God in your Plan B today.

Copyright Debbie Taylor Williams, The Plan A Woman in a Plan B World: What to Do When Life Doesn’t Go According to Plan