That's Not According To The (My) Plan!

It’s Sunday (well, yesterday was, just pretend with me, try for a moment to put yourself back there again).

It’s 5am.

You receive a text that states, “I know this sucks, but I just got paged into work and I’m on my way right now. I hope there is someone that can take my spot?”

Yes.

That just happened.

It’s 5am. It’s 5am.

Who will you call at 5am? What do you do? Have you started freaking out yet? Are you awake yet? What do you do? It’s 5am. CRAP! It’s 5am! Who can I call? What can I do? The text was right…this SUCKS!

This really happened. This was how I woke up yesterday. I don’t quite remember if all those thoughts came racing through my head, but it was definitely something quite similar. I didn’t cuss, so I guess that’s a win.

As the team arrived, I informed them of our drummer’s situation and an obvious wave of panic swept over their faces. Nick…it’s time to LEAD. It’s not time to panic. LEAD.

God, I trust You can and will work this out and you’ll do it for YOUR glory. God, I trust You (Romans 8:28).

I’m not someone who is known for FLEXIBILITY (So glad to get that off my chest!). I’m a rule follower. I’m a schedule stickler. I’m like neatness. I’m like order. But, yesterday, I had no choice. I had to step out of my comfort zone. I had to venture into unknown territory. It felt unsafe, unsure, unsettled…possibly some more un- words but I can’t think of them right now.

Ultimately, we placed our trust in God’s ability to make it awesome, to make it work, and I believe He came through in a big, BIG way! We completely rearranged the worship experience and said, “God, today is Yours” (as if every other day somehow isn’t).

This is recovery. Things happen. Things don’t go according to plan. We get distracted. We get knocked off track. We turn. We slip. We stumble. We fall. We get turned around. We hit walls. Trees are falling all around us. Cars are zooming by us. What I’m trying to say, is sometimes there are things that happen of which we have NO CONTROL OVER and we must ADJUST TO THE SITUATION to make progress!

That’s recovery. That’s Celebrate Recovery.

Celebrate Recovery is learning how to be FLEXIBLE. Celebrate Recovery is learning I’m not in control. Celebrate Recovery is learning how to TRUST God enough to follow Him. Celebrate Recovery is learning God’s plans are not always my plans and His plans are BETTER.

So maybe yesterday, maybe last week, maybe last month…maybe today, something will happen that is out of the ordinary, slightly off from the normalcy of your daily routine, takes you by surprise…how will you respond?

Will you throw up your hands in DEFEAT and GIVE UP? Or…
Will you throw up your hands in SURRENDER and experience VICTORY?