Ever find yourself in a circumstance that just leaves  you scratching your head wondering, “What was God thinking?”  I have to confess this has been the case for me more than a few times in my life.

I am a planner and a prayer.  I make my plans then I pray that God will bless them.  And when I say plan – I mean down to the little details.  If it’s a vacation I’m planning I have an itinerary for every day down to the hour usually well in advance.  I’ve made reservations, planned my wardrobe, printed my online coupons and typed out my schedule long before the plane takes off or the car pulls out of the drive.  I don’t leave much to chance and there are not many surprises.  But it’s always a stress-free trip because we all know exactly what to expect.

It seems to me that God must think I need to learn to wing-it because my life has been a down-to-the-minute journey.  In just about every major crisis in my life (especially financially) God has kept things close to the vest until the last second…then the big reveal.  He has never failed to come through, although not always in the way I expect.

 I recently experienced God’s last-minute provision in preparing for my kids to go to college.  My son was recruited to play football at a Christian college in Florida and my daughter accelerated her last two years of school to go with him.  We had not planned on sending two at one time that first year and were not financially prepared.  Just months before they were to leave I sat in their admission’s counselor’s office in tears faced with the stark reality that we could not come close to affording to send two of them.  We shook our heads and my husband asked, “How do people do it?”  Well, to make a long story short, God came through at the last minute and brought the tuition down almost to the penny of what we could afford.  We were out on a limb, with our kids enrolled and excited, with no means to make it happen and God came through.

I could share story after story like that.  But the real beauty of this story was my daughter’s role in it all.  I walked away from that office feeling defeated. But my daughter looked at me and said, “Don’t worry about it mom.  We’re going here.”  She never worried, never budged from that knowing that God would come through.  Mom on the other hand – not so much.

Here’s the thing.  God had a plan all along.  Whether it was for them to attend that college or something else, He had a plan.  What stress we could avoid if we could be more like my daughter and just rest in Him.  Jeremiah 29:11 says, “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 a future and a hope.”  Did you catch that?  The God of the universe has thought your life through, set a plan in motion, with an outcome that will benefit you and give you hope.

What’s your stresser?  Finances have been an on-going challenge for my husband and I.  Supporting a family and being the sole funding for a group home for homeless women for ten years has been challenging.  But God has not failed us.  Maybe yours is money, your marriage, your children, your health.  Whatever it is you can be assured of this, whether you understand God’s methods, you can trust that the outcome will be the best one for you.  REST. Just rest in Him. He’s got it all under control.