#failedplans

It is a dangerous thing to assume to know what God’s plans are. As we go about our lives making decisions, some big and important and some not so much, we are (hopefully) asking for the Lord’s guidance along the way. When we receive personal revelation offering us guidance, we should follow that guidance (this only works after you have learned to recognize receiving revelation from the Holy Ghost versus your own very loud thoughts). It is tempting to believe that, knowing that the Lord wants you to do something means being able to anticipate what He wants you to do next.

For example, I was engaged to another guy before I met my husband. I was in love with him and I prayed when we decided to get married. I felt that warmth of heart, I heard the Holy Ghost, and I knew with all my heart that the Lord approved and that becoming engaged to that guy was the correct path to take.

Here’s where it gets tricky: the guy that I was so in love with dumped me, completely out of the blue. I had already bought a dress. Thank goodness the 500 invitations were sitting in my apartment, partially addressed and not mailed. He ended up marrying someone else, something that many of our mutual acquaintances informed me of over and over and over again as they received the wedding announcements with a different bride than the one they expected.

Was I wrong? I thought I was close to the Holy Spirit, thought I could feel Him guiding my life. I had my life planned out, and my plans collapsed around me. I had planned to move across the country and transfer schools, and I stood up to my parents when they weren’t overly nice to him. I was doing what the Lord wanted me to do, so why did it all fall apart.

As it turns out, the Lord’s plans didn’t fall apart at all; MINE did. I was so focused on thinking, ‘the Lord has let me know that I should be engaged to this guy, so we’ll get married and live happily ever after and go to church together and have adorable babies and I’ll follow him for his career and I’ll bake blueberry cobbler and…’ The Lord may have guided me to that guy, and He did intend for me to be engaged to him, but I missed that the Lord had different plans. Better plans.

Because I was engaged to that first guy, I met my husband. I attended a sacrament meeting I would not have otherwise attended, and as part of that ward I received church callings. My church callings frequently meant that I was working with this wonderful man who became a great friend. Because I was engaged the first time, I met and became friends with my husband. We had been friends for more than nine months when I was dumped. We had never behaved inappropriately, respected each other greatly, and when my plans fell apart I cried on his shoulder. We have been married for nearly seven years and have four children, and I am thankful every day that I followed the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and I am thankful that they led me in a different direction than I thought they would. God knew that we would be happy together, and my first engagement was a little step in a grand, complicated plan.

Just remember that, as long as you have faith, pray for guidance, and rely on the Holy Ghost, you will never be misdirected. He knows where should be and where you will be happy, so follow Him.  

so my ultimate summer goal is to have released 5 more videos by the time school comes around which is in mid-June.