His plans vs. our plans

11'For I know the (A)plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for (B)welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a (C)hope. Jeremiah 29:11
I still have awhile left in high school before I go off to college or whatever awaits me thereafter, but in the few years past I had started thinking about what I wanted to do when I grew up. For a few years the idea of an engineer seemed exciting and profitable, then my mom metioned to me the possible career as a marketing director. Both of these were enticing but at the same time didn't quite feel right. Then, one day, almost out of the blue came God's still, small, voice saying, "Eric, I want you to be a pastor." So, I thought, "Cool, this will be exciting." but as I continued to pray about it something in me changed, I grew much closer to God and listened more to his prompting. This week past i had the great opportunity to serve in Washington D.C. and then attend the DCLA conference there. The theme was Be. Love. Serve. Repeat. the passages Exodus 4, Jeremiah 29:11, and Philippians 2:1-18 have been appearing, "coincidentally" over the past few weeks and months and I finally today realized what it meant. I was becoming impatient wanting to now what all this meant, but today God revealed it to me. In my quiet time those 3 passages came to mind and they all seemed to fit together and make so much sense for my situation. God wants me to be a missionary, which I am really excited about! I'm just waiting for the who with, the when, and where; but hey, it will all come in time. "Thy word is a lamp" not a beacon shining forward so I can see my entire future.

So, two weeks ago I was at the Creation music festival NE. I pulled an all nighter the last night and so I decided to watch the sunrise. As I was waiting I was watching this very bright star move across the beautiful night sky. I thought to myself, "wow, that's a awesome looking star." and as I was waiting for the sun the sky was becoming brighter and the star was loosing its luster. Tired of standing, I unfolded my tripod-chair and sat upon it in the middle of an empty field, alone. waiting and waiting for the sun to rise, a feeling of impatience began to settle over me, but I continued to wait, and wait. Then finally, when the sun arose over the mountain, the entire valley was lit and everything that moments before had been unclear were now clearly visible. I then somehow made the connection in my head that the star I first saw was like my plan and my ideas for my life and the sun was God's. I thought the little star was impressive until our sun showed itself and blew away the other. Another thought that raced through my head, "We must wait upon the Lord. His plans aren't ours, and his timing is not ours." and we should be very thankful for that.
Both experiences have changed me and made me mature and grow closer to God in my walk with him; for which I am extremely thankful. So, no matter what your idea is of how something should turn out or how crazy God's plan might seem...His plan is ALWAYS better than our plan.
-Godbless