When Plans Don't Go as Planned

Our Thanksgiving did not go as expected this year. My mom had started out for Scottsdale, AZ, to start cleaning out my Granny's condo. My dad and I went out to meet her, then after spending a week there, we were all going to head east to Oklahoma to spend Thanksgiving with my grandpa and other relatives. We were looking forward to a roadtrip and spending time with family. Then my mom got an unexpected health diagnosis, which threw a wrench into plans and left everything up in the air while we waited for doctors to call back to schedule tests, etc. (Haven't we been through enough in the last year, we thought?) In the meantime, I also got sick. Fever, aches, congestion, loss of energy, etc.

After a few days of dealing with everything, things seemed like they were going to temporarily land in place. I was feeling better, and booked a flight to Oklahoma, as my parents were going to go ahead and start that way, and I would meet them there. Then my mom got sick; and I got worse. Thanksgiving was officially ruined. So frustrating. No getting to see our family. Hundreds spent on a flight gone to waste. A second week of staying inside. There was no point to this trip.

My mom and I have gotten in the habit of saying that our family has learned not to make plans. After planning a 200-person wedding at a resort, I married my husband in the hospital with our pastor, my MIL, and a Zoom link with a few family members. After planning our future together, brain cancer claimed his life. After thinking about moving elsewhere in the country, we lost my Granny suddenly and unexpectedly. A month after she died, my grandpa fell and broke his hip. At this point, I've grown accustomed to responding to questions with Humphrey Bogart's famous phrase in Casablanca, "I never make plans that far in advance."

Although I would never say that I'm a type A person who needs to have all plans etched in stone, I am a woman of simple pleasures, so having plans in place gives me small joys to look forward to. When something unforeseen comes along and uproots those plans, I get disappointed. So as our Thanksgiving with family was canceled and I entered my second week of being sick, I allowed myself to feel sad and angry, but I was grateful that God gradually brought me out of those feelings, and I eventually decided to be happy and grateful for the extra week in Arizona, even though I was sick. It also gave me an opportunity to reflect on how truly fortunate I am / we are. I still got to be with my parents for Thanksgiving. We still got to have a nice dinner together (which was delicious, btw - recipes to follow). Although there are lingering health concerns, no one is in the hospital. I get to enjoy a four-day weekend. The sun shines nearly every day here and the sky is lovely. We are still so fortunate compared to others in the world battling danger, hunger, persecution, etc. And God says in His Word that He knows the plans He has for us. Nothing falls outside the realm of what He has in store for us. Even if my plans don't happen the way I want them to, it is comforting to know that nothing is happening outside of what He has planned for my life.

Jeremiah 29:11

Psalm 4:4

Hebrews 12:11