Encouragement, Goals, God's Plan, Guidance, Music, Obedience, Patience, Planning, Prayer, Relationship to Christ, Struggles, Trust

When Our Plans Fail

What do you do when your plans fall short?  Do you get frustrated?  Our Bible Journaling verse today tells us Who ultimately determines what direction we are to take.  “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” (Proverbs 16:9 NLT) The CSB says, “A person’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.”  The Bible doesn’t say we shouldn’t make plans, but we need to understand that God has His plan for us, and His plan is much better than ours.

When I was in high school, if someone had told me I would have spent the better part of my adult life in Christian broadcasting, I would have told them they were crazy.  But God had a plan.  I tried going to nursing school because I thought I’d like nursing, but my grades were never good enough for me to finish.  I worked in hospitals and nursing homes.  Eventually, working in the nursing home got to me.  Watching my patients pass away one after another was more than I could take.  I was discouraged.  I tried secretarial work, and I enjoyed it.  However, I felt like I was a failure because I couldn’t get past the schoolwork needed to be a nurse.

But God’s plan was better.  I heard a commercial for a singing group that was looking for new members on my local Christian radio station.  I auditioned and became part of the group.  It was in that group that I met my first husband, who “happened” to be the Chief Engineer of that station.  Together we worked in broadcasting for almost 35 years. I was working as a Correspondent at the last Christian Television Network we worked at, and then my husband had two strokes and epileptic seizures caused by the strokes.  He ended up in a nursing home and eventually, it took his life.  During his illness, I continued to work at the station as a Correspondent, where one of my duties was to write devotionals for our prayer board.

Seven years ago, I met a man on a Christian dating service, who six months later became my husband.  He was an ordained minister before I knew him, and now has an online ministry, doing literature evangelism.  Shortly before I met him, I was at an evening church service, and a visiting pastor spoke a Word of Knowledge over me, telling me I would be ministering to people all over the world with my journaling.  At the time I was perplexed.  I didn’t have a blog page.  All I did was write journal sermon notes for myself.  I prayed and asked God if this was what He wanted me to do.  I looked for confirmation from my pastor and our youth pastor’s wife.  It seemed to me that God was leading me in this direction. Then, as I was online, I began to see Bible Journaling artwork all over the place.  I found a Facebook group on Bible Journaling, learned how to do the artwork, and began my Bible Journaling blog.  My husband edits my devotionals and helps me with some of the Scriptural content. I look at this as a team effort.  Today, my blog reaches people all over the world, and I am just stunned at the idea that people in other countries are reading my blog.   I have had people tell me that they have received a blessing from my journaling.  I give God all the glory!

I have said all of this to tell you that no matter what we have planned in our lives when things don’t go the way we desire, God has a better plan.  As I look back on my life, I can see God building one event upon another to get me to where I am today.

My first husband’s life verse was Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” (KJV)  I have tried to follow that as much as I can.  I know that God’s plans are far better than my own, and if I stay on the pathway, He has laid out for me, I can’t go wrong.  So, when your plans don’t come out the way you want them to, if you follow His leading, He will take you on a journey that will be amazing!

Unknown's avatar

Published by

Donna Knuth Rice

I am trying a blog for the first time in my life, and frankly, I feel like I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing! But, here goes. I work at a Christian Television network in the Correspondence Department, where I write letters and emails to our viewers, pray with them for their needs, and send materials they request. I am a Christian. I was saved at the age of 11 during a youth meeting at my church. My pastor led me to the Lord, and to say the least, my life has been an adventure. I am a widow. My late husband, Allen, passed away after 34 1/2 years of marriage. He had been sick the last seven years of his life, and it was a struggle, for him and for me. We met as part of a singing group that was affiliated with a Christian Radio station, and we sang together all through our lives together. We both worked in television and radio all through our married life, mostly for Christian stations. Besides singing I also play flute. I had the luxury of having parents who started out as music teachers...so music was in our house constantly. Some people describe me as being a loud-mouthed lime type...can't disagree with that. I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth more times than I can count! I also have a tendency to say exactly what's on my mind...which is why I get myself in so much trouble! LOL! Trust me, that's something me and God have been working on for a very long time. I have no children here on earth, although I have a baby in heaven. My baby here is my dog Jack. He's a black lab/ chow mix. He's a big boy....thinks he's a lap dog! Can't think of much else to say. The reason I started this blog is because a few months ago in church, a guest pastor came and delivered a message, and when he asked for those of us who wanted prayer to come forward, I did. When he came to me he asked me if I did any journaling. I told him no 'cause I wasn't very good at it. He told me to start, and prophesied over me that my journal thoughts would impact other people. I wasn't sure just how I was to go about doing this. In fact, I was a little hesitant at first. I started journaling at home, and our assistant pastor's wife asked me to submit something for our Senior newsletter. I didn't the first edition, but something I had heard on Christian radio a long time ago and has stuck with me all these years, came to mind so I submitted an article. That article will be my first post. I don't claim to have all the answers, and my thoughts may seem a little "out there", but I feel God has been prodding me to do this, and so here I am. I hope what I post will bring encouragement, and "Something to Think About".

Leave a comment