Exchanging Disappointment

Have you ever had something planned that you were really looking forward to and at the last minute everything changed? That can lead to disappointment unless we stay open to the possibility that God may have a different plan. 

Recently that happened to me. A friend and I had made arrangements to visit with an elderly friend who I hadn't spent time with in many years. I was really looking forward to seeing her again and talking with her. During my college years, she was one of leaders there that had mentored me and influenced my life in a significant way. As it turned out, she had a situation arise in her home that made it necessary for her to reschedule our visit for another time. Initially, I was disappointed, but within just a few minutes my friend and I decided that since we had already cleared our schedules for the day, we would just do something else. 

Within a very short period of time, we were on our way to visit her mom and dad! There was something so refreshing about exchanging a potential disappointment for this spontaneous reappointment. You see God had a different plan for our day. My friend's mother is grieving the recent death of her oldest brother and her other brother is seriously ill in a hospital on the other side of the country. Her heart has been so heavy and God used our visit to help her. In the course of our visit we prayed together and then we took them out for lunch and spent the entire day talking and laughing and laughing and talking...the scripture says, "that a merry heart does us good, just like medicine."  As I hugged her goodbye, I could feel that her heart had been lifted up, strengthened and encouraged. God is truly a master at ordering our steps...causing us to be at the right place at the right time for His purposes! So it's important for us not to let a change in our plans disappoint or distract us from His plans!  

Stay open and be willing to be spontaneous to what He may have planned for you each day! You will be so blessed and refreshed as he uses you to touch others!