What is your plan?

I'll be the first to admit that my life hasn't exactly turned out the way I planned or envisioned. And quite honestly, I know that the way it turned out included lots of details and detours that I know God didn't plan for me either. Choices (both good and bad, sinful and not) led to consequences. Some good. Some bad. Some beautiful. Some ugly.

In homeschool we just learned about Alexander the Great. I love the history we are using because it ties together all of history, both biblical and not, in a beautiful and fascinating story that shows what was happening in the world during biblical times. 

You see, I used to separate the events of the Bible as if they happened inside a vacuum or at some time other than when the rest of the world existed. In my mind the events of the Bible fit into a nice box before all the real, historical stuff happened. 

You can image my surprise when I found out...they did not. It was all going on at once, if you will. 

So, what we learned is that Alexander the Great had a plan. He wanted to conquer the whole world, basically. Or what he thought was the whole world at the time. And he did conquer a lot of it. 

He was even headed to conquer the Israelites, but the priests stopped him at the gate and told him about this guy named Daniel. You see, Daniel foretold of this great man...how he would conquer many lands and how he would rule for a time. 

Basically, the priests appealed to Alexander's ego. They said, "Look! You're in our holy book! Our God said you would come and rule and conquer many lands." Alexander liked the thought of that so much that he turned around and headed home. 

What they didn't tell him was that he would neither reign nor rule for very long and his kingdom would be divided up. But he was so excited with what he heard that he didn't ask them to go on. 

Alexander planned to keep conquering and amassing wealth. Guess what happened, though? He got sick. Within two weeks, he died. His great plan came to nothing. Eventually his four generals divided up his land and his great land was in pieces. 

So what does this have to do with my plans or your plans?

We all have plans. We have dreams and ideas and mental wanderings of how we think our lives should go or even will go. 

At the end of the day, though, whose plan do you want for your life? Yours? Or God's? The God who says that his "plans are to prosper you, not harm you; to give you hope and a future..." Jeremiah 29:11.

Imagine what would happen if you simply said, "Yes, God...you can have all of me! Your ways are better than my ways! Your will. Your plan. Your purpose. Not mine!"

I'm asking myself that question right now...and I invite you to ask it too. But don't wait to long asking the question. Just say yes! And then watch what our awesome God can do!