Yesterday, I asked Jan, “How do you feel about our lives?” Her answer was wise. It was a wisdom built on years of following the Lord. She said, “We will follow Him wherever he leads, no matter what He asks of us. He’s the one who has always had our next step prepared.”

I agreed with Jan because it was not our plans that led us to this place in our lives. It was the Lord who always knows far more than we could ever imagine. He’s the one who has always had our next step planned, even when we couldn’t see it or realize it was available.

I have learned something about the plans we make for our lives. They don’t always work out as we planned. The book of Proverbs has something to say about the plans we make.

“We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer” (Proverbs 16:1). It is His right answer that we must follow, even if our next step does not align with the plans we have made or even makes sense to us at a particular stage of our lives.

“We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps” (16:9).
Our next step is not about God taking hold of our feet and forcing us to take the right path. It’s the determination of His love that will cause us to step on the right path that we did not see or even imagine was before us.

“We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall” (16-33).
In those times when we became flippant and frustrated with God’s timing and “tossed the dice” about our future, the Lord remained sovereign in how He led us forward. We are so thankful for that particular expression of His love.

“Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes” (19:2).
We learned that when our enthusiasm was at the helm of our decision making, rather than the ultimate will of God, we would make plans led by enthusiasm, not by the leading of the Spirit. Those enthusiastic plans are short-lived and waste a lot of time and energy.

“You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail” (19:21).
Now, heading toward the finish line of our lives, Jan and I have learned the most important lesson about planning. We have learned that the Lord’s purpose will always prevail if we remain tender and open to His plan, even if what we thought would happen did not come to pass.

Having these understandings about how we plan our lives and how God faithfully leads us will bring a peace that no amount of human planning can accomplish.

Much of our planning has proved to be imperfect. It’s in the discovery of our imperfections that we discovered the perfect One was always leading us, even in those times when we did not understand all that was happening in our lives.