Showing posts with label plans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plans. Show all posts

Wednesday

The Anniversary Trip We Couldn't Plan - A Dose of Encouragement


In August 1997 Fred and I celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary by taking a trip to Hawaii.


A week there Island Hopping in fantastic weather was a real enjoyment for us.






Five years later we headed to the Bahamas for 2 weeks for our Silver Anniversary.


Then in 2007 we took 3 weeks and went to the East Coast of Australia with a layover of a few days in Singapore on the way home.


So August 2012 should have seen us heading off on another big trip but it just didn't happen.


Although we talked about how it would be our 35th anniversary often, we still never could decide where to go or when to go.

Then near the end of the year, our daughter Linda told us she was going to apply to go to South Korea to teach English for a year.

Months later all the applications, online courses, visas etc. had been sorted and she headed off in February 2013 (I wrote about The Day We had to Say Goodbye)


Okay then no prizes for guessing where we did go for our 35th Anniversary trip even if it was almost a year late.


South Korea



We just had to make sure we didn't go when it is too cold, too hot, or too wet in South Korea, because it can truly be too cold, too hot or too wet - we experienced the "too hot".

Oh and shortly after she left she face-timed to tell us she had been allocated to a school on the Coast so wasn't that a bonus too!

We had a fantastic holiday together and when I say together it actually included all five of us.
Fred and I flew over and spent a weekend in Seoul with Linda and met up with an old friend, then this old married couple flew over to Hong Kong for 4 days on our own, and finally back to South Korea to meet our two sons as they arrived to spend the rest of the time with Linda and us in Seoul and also in Gangneung.

The boys wanted to come to visit Linda obviously but also knew that it would be the last time that this family of five would be together on a holiday as a family of five because later that year we had another special event when Daniel & Suzie got married.






At times during 2012 I had got frustrated because we just could not make a decision about where that anniversary trip should take us o when Fred would get off work to be able to go and sometimes when we can't make up our minds we just let the thing drift on and on.

But this time that indecisiveness was meant to be.


I am a firm believer in the fact that God sometimes holds us back 
from doing certain things at certain times 
because He has other plans for us

and of course

His plans are always BETTER because they are the RIGHT plans for us.


I'm also thankful to God for the way He provided everything for Linda and was clearly guiding her.

On other occasions I have wondered why I seem to procrastinate about something but in the end I realise that it wasn't just procrastination or laziness it was actually God keeping me from feeling ready to proceed with my original plan or thought; even in a small thing.


Yes God cares about the small things too.


The more we acknowledge the importance of God's guidance and look for it in all aspects of our lives the more we will come to recognise the times we are meant to hold back and the times He wants us to proceed.



We will learn to know His direction day by day, bit by bit as we become content to be in His Hands and trust that He is the only one who knows what's best for us.


We only think we know what's best.

He really does know what's best.



If you want to read more about our trip to South Korea you can start here 




No New Year Resolutions? - A Dose of Encouragement


Are we thinking about the end of a year?
Are we thinking about the preparation for a new year?

Yes because let's face it, all of us will have something in our minds about the new year.
It may not be resolutions as such and with me it definitely isn't but I still have some kind of plans and hopes and thoughts going through my mind as to how I want to do certain things during the year but then on the other hand I also have loads of things that I should have thought about more in advance for this coming Year.







However regardless of how organised or unorganised I may be throughout the year to come will that make any significant difference to God's plan for me for this year?

No

because His plan does not depend on my organised life or even my organised thoughts but I believe He is waiting to see whether or not I will be obedient to His Word and His Spirit prompting me day by day.

Let's see 

Where am I writing this post?   

When am I writing this post?


I am writing this today, New Years Eve in the late afternoon while I wait in Currys Electrical Store in Sprucefield, NI for my husband to pay for a item we have just picked out in the sale.

I will not be able to post this until sometime this evening after I get home, get internet connection and get this finished and edited.

Other things will be more important and need to be done before I get back to this.
I may even have to wait until after we have our dinner although my plan would be to do this earlier.
But will it make a lot of difference whether it is posted before dinner or after?

No

because again God's plan does not depend on my great organised efforts or plans but solely on whether or not I am obedient to Him even today.



So I do wish everyone a







but I do not have any New Year Resolutions



nor have I made any of those lists that I love to make.


This year I do want to be more organised, I do want to be more prepared in advance for events but I really want to be more open to listening and obeying.

I am writing something I feel is important for me and for others to be encouraged knowing that each year, month, week, day are not governed by how well we organise them or plan for them but by God's Love and Grace and Mercy extended in each one of them.

I am writing so that we can be encouraged that God's plan for the year ahead is not going to succeed or fail because of us but rather that we will be enriched by our participation in His Plan when we are simply obedient to Him.


So this year 

no New Year Resolutions for me!

no Lists and Plans in advance for me!

just a prayer








Maybe you want the same thing in this New Year.