Many people say life is like a roller coaster, with ups, downs, and unexpected turns. As much as I love my life, I’m terrified of roller coasters! I hate standing in lines and seeing all the drops and loops I’ll have to endure, and even though my friends and family beg me to face my fears, most of the time I don’t ever make it to the ride. However, there is one roller coaster I enjoy, and I ride it whenever I can.
The indoor roller coaster at Hersheypark, the Laff Trakk, is the only remotely scary ride you’ll ever see me get on. Y’know why? Because when you’re standing in line, you can’t see what the ride will surprise you with. You have no opportunities to feel nervous about the drops or the loops if you can’t see them. So, when I think about life as a roller coaster, I imagine God made mine an indoor one. He gets me to do things I’m afraid of by not showing me what’s coming.
If I could design the roller coaster I ride, it would look more like a train. No surprises, no bumps, no jerks. Just getting from Point A to Point B. But fortunately, no matter how many plans I make for my ride, I am not the designer of it. The designer of my ride, the planner of my life, has so much more for me than I could ever imagine or plan for myself. But when I’m up and down and left and right, sometimes the bigger picture is out of sight. In Proverbs 16:1-3 (NIV) it says,
“To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue. All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”
Ultimately, I’m so uncomfortable when my plans are thrown out the window because I haven’t fully trusted the Lord with my future. Instead, I’ve made plans that make sense to me to get from Point A to Point B, but I forget that we walk by faith and not by sight. I don’t need to see Point B to trust that God will lead me there. I just need to commit myself to his will, his power, and his plan that he will establish for me.
Sometimes waiting for his plans to come is the hardest part of the battle. Standing in line, not knowing what the roller coaster has in store for us. But there’s a peace knowing that God waits with us in the line, and it says in Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV),
“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 hope and a future.”
So not only has he made plans for us according to his own perfect motives, but he’s also made plans that are perfectly timed and good to give us hope and a future. With all that said, I’d like to challenge you with this question: What plans have you made for your life, and what plans has God made for your life? We love to make plans regarding our careers, relationships, education, and finances based on what feels comfortable and safe to us. But could it be possible that God is calling us to unfamiliar things, things that may not make sense to us, but are things that God will use for his purpose and his glory?
Father God, will you open our eyes to see the plans we’ve created from our own hearts! Be with us while we wait for the plans that come in your perfect timing and challenge us to submit our own will and plans to you so that you can establish your incredible plans!
God knows I hate roller coasters, so he made mine indoors. I don’t know what he has in my future, but I have peace and know that he stands beside me while I wait for it to come. And he tells me his ride for me is good, so it is.
(Proverbs 16:1-3, NIV) “To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue. All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”
By Aubree Nelson
