Bad turned Good

I am a firm believer that God will talk to you, move you and work through you in ways that we, sometimes, can understand and others cannot.  Over the past few months I have felt God working in me, teaching me through the experiences in my life.  Some lessons were easily learned while others have been a slow, repetitive process. 

I am a planner.  I thoroughly love to make lists.  To do lists, check lists, lists that last a day, a week or months.  Sometimes I make lists and actually check over them while other lists get written and never looked at again.  Either way, I plan.  I plan my day and I plan my year.  I pretty much plan everything.  You’d think that a planner like me would really struggle with unplanned experiences.  However, the older I get; the better I am getting at handling these instances.  I don’t necessarily always love them but I learn to enjoy the meaning behind them. 

If I keep my ears tuned and my eyes open for God’s work in my life, sometimes it’s easy to tell when He’s working.  I believe God has His hand on everything so I try not to stress when these “surprises” come along.  As long as I remember that He’s working in this some way, shape or form then I don’t have to worry about an outcome.  Just like He placed the surprise in my life or strategically will help me move through or around the surprise, He can handle where I go from here. 

Take today for example: I just wrapped up a strenuous 8 week class and had planned to start my second 8 week class (part 2 of the first) tomorrow.  To my surprise, a phone call informed me this afternoon that the school cancelled that class.  My initial thought, “Great; after all of my hard work and sacrifice, I now cannot take the second class because others failed and now the numbers are too low to offer this class”.  Immediately, I felt a strong “shish” and regretted thinking those thoughts.  Yes, I wanted to take this class.  I really wanted to get ahead and be in a better position for my nursing classes in the future, but I can’t change the decision made.  Thinking back over the last 8 weeks, I was still proud of myself and the work I put into my class.  Plus, God had worked through me in several ways over the past 8 weeks.  I wouldn’t take that back for anything. 

My second thought came with a smile (surprisingly, and not usual for someone who gets bad news); “What if this was God working?”  No, I am not taking this a sign that I need to drop my goals of being a nurse one day, but what if this cancellation was a precursor to another opening somewhere else.? What if life was going to hold something that needed my attention more than this specific class at this time?  When you believe that God has His hand on everything and you take away the worry that comes with bad news, it doesn’t seem so bad.  What should have ruined my day opened me up to think with excitement about what might be coming my way.  Maybe it’s not a good thing happening in the next few months, maybe it’s something that I will need that time that would have been spent on schoolwork to overcome a battle, but I can’t worry about that now.  As a planner, what I can do is take my “plan” and prepare to change it a bit.  It’s not a bad thing to plan but it is important to roll with the punches.  I need to be flexible and have faith and continue to listen and watch for the next move.  Good or bad, there is a purpose behind it and who knows, it might be a life defining moment.  This might be a season of greatness and if I believe in greater things and “sun stand still” prayers then this “bad” news might become one phone call that changed it all. 

So, I encourage everyone out there today that’s struggling with control and worry to turn it all over to God.  Let Him handle it.  We can only make the  most of the moment and when we worry ourselves sick and focus on the bad and the stressful things in life we aren’t capturing the moment in highest regards.  Pray to God that He’d help you with your, personal struggles and that He would mold you and teach you through your experiences in life.  He is Almighty and the King of Kings.  He can not only handle what you’re going through but the God that made the stars can place you in a position of greatness in your life to where you can not only survive but excel!