Spotlights #1: Those Unplanned Moments

9:12 AM

Spotlights: Where every weekend I highlight a character, real-life person, blog post, book, movie, song, or moment that inspired me sometime that week
Hola readers! 
Yesterday morning I looked up up the stars and said, "God, we're going to a concert tonight. If it's your will, open doors that need opened. Let me accept everything as your will." I think the Lord was laughing and saying, "and those doors are definitely not ones you have in mind."
Around three o'clock I took a shower and put on the little makeup that I wear, excited that in just a few hours I was going to see Unspoken for the second time live, and have the chance to worship with at least five hundred people. 
My family ate very early since the concert was said to be around five thirty, and then we got in the van and headed for the church that was holding the free event. When we arrived-and I'm not going to rat out that church and say anything bad-but the place wasn't for us. I don't know how to say it, but we weren't meant to be there. My whole family felt it.
So my Dad put the van in reverse and we headed out of the parking lot. I wasn't the only one a bit disappointed. We'd waited for this all week, dressed up, and all for nothing.
 We decided to go get ice cream at McDonald's (we're an easy to please family), but to make a very long story short we ended up on the interstate in traffic, and had to take a wrong exit ramp and go where we didn't want to go. BUT we did find a frozen yogurt place-one we didn't even know existed but the random traffic had "forced" us to find it. It was so much better then McDonald's but highly unplanned.
  Then we went to the park just as the sun was setting and afterwards came home and watched When Calls the Heart season 3.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
Isaiah 55:8 

Why is this spotlight worthy? Because there's a moral to this story. Because God showed me something last night that I needed to see.
His ways aren't our ways. My family planned on going to see a concert. We didn't plan getting stuck in traffic. We didn't plan on finding frozen yogurt. But if we hadn't gotten off that particular ramp we wouldn't have found it.
Readers, plans in life aren't always going to be just-so. College isn't going to work out like you probably want it to. Businesses crash and burn. Relationships can end up in tears and frustration. But God has a plan.
I don't know why He didn't want us to go to that concert last night, but He didn't. But He showed me: His ways are always best. I couldn't have planned getting frozen yogurt. I couldn't have planned going to the park just before dark. I didn't imagine watching When Calls the Heart-I imagined myself in  a time of worship around eight thirty-not crying over Pastor Frank's outlaw past in episode two.
But God's ways aren't out ways. He has the world in the palm of His hand, and He leads us where we need to go-sometimes pushing us beyond our comfort zone. 
After the odd evening I felt completely content. I felt closer to God then ever. I think I needed to not go to that concert. God isn't only in a church building-we are the church. He dwells in us and He will give us what's best.
It's not always easy. Moments don't always end in frozen yogurt or inspirational TV shows. Life is messy. But the end of this life is heaven and forever worshiping with tons of Christians from every tribe and nation. 
Remembering that God's got this isn't always easy, but it's worth it. So worth it!    

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6 of your thoughts

  1. I absolutely love this, Kara! Thank you for the reminder that God knows better than we do- all the time. <3

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    1. Yes he knows better by a long shot and that can be one of the most reassuring things we could ever remember. ♥
      Blessings,
      Kara

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  2. ♥ Thanks for the reminder! I look forward to your other Spotlights. :)

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  3. I enjoyed reading of this experience, Kara! It's amazing when God's plans are the opposite of what we're expecting, yet still totally satisfying. Thanks for sharing! And I'm looking forward to more of your spotlights too. :)

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    1. Thanks so much Jessica for your comment! You're right-it is soo amazing to see God work despite the odd, random moments and days in our lives.
      Blessings,
      Kara

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