Questioning God's Plan For Our Life

Recently, I shared the story in church of the struggle with infertility that my wife and I walked through 15 years ago.(You can watch that story here) During that time, I questioned what God's will was for my life. I thought He wanted us to be parents. I thought God wanted to give us the desires of our heart. I had planned on being a Dad my entire adult life.

And here we were, 46 months after we got married, still waiting. Still no child. Still wondering why God was "punishing" us and not giving us what we want.Eventually, there came a point where I had to accept the fact that God's plan may not be for us to have children. I had to come to grips with the idea that parenthood, snuggles, helping with homework, softball games, ice cream cones, trips to Disney World, all of those things may never happen.I also had to realize that God's plan is perfect.

Even if we were never to become parents, His plan is perfect. That was not easy to understand, but it was true. God's word in Jeremiah 29:11 says -- "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." God promises us that he has a hope, a future, that He knows the plans he has for us.How do we know what God's plan for our life is if we don't get what we think we are deserving of?  

Jeremiah 29:11 says God has a plan. But Jeremiah 29:12 and 29:13 tells us how to know that plan. "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you." -- Verse 13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."How do we know God's plan for our lives? We seek Him, pray, read our Bible, worship Him and fellowship with other believers. The verse says we should call on Him, pray to Him, seek Him and we'll find our His plan.

When we passionately and patiently pursue God, we are in His will. We are smack dab in the middle of his perfect plan.I thank God everyday that He would indeed bless us with our Sarah in June of 2004. His perfect plan was for us to be parents. I'm truly grateful for that. But if He chose to not give us a child, that wouldn't have changed who God was or how much He loved me or my wife.

The unknown is never fun. It's scary. It's not always a fun place to be. But thank God that He loves us and has that perfect plan for us.