Follow the Traffic - or not

I have just spent close to an hour writing a post called Follow the Traffic- only to have accidentally deleted it.

At first I was mad.  I put a lot of thought and effort into it.  It was a good one, too!

But  I guess I just wasn't supposed to write about that today.

Perhaps I should write about how, sometimes, life just doesn't go the way we plan- and that's OK.  There is a higher power, a Grand Choreographer, if you will, that is guiding us along on our paths through life.

I'm not saying that God made me accidentally delete my post.........but maybe He did.  Maybe, just maybe, He knew you were going to visit my blog today, and He had something specific to tell you.

I hadn't planned on writing about this - but I guess that is the lesson for today: Life doesn't always go as planned.


I was engaged once.  His name was Ricardo.  I loved him. I  He didn't have a job. We put my $300 engagement ring from Sears on my Mom's Sears card.  I picked out and paid for invitations.   I had plans for us. They didn't work out.  When we broke up, I told him I was going to keep the ring (because that's what all angry dumpees do.)  His stellar response: "Go for it. You've got twelve months to pay it off interest free."

I knew what I wanted.  God knew better. (Thank goodness!)

Growing up I wanted to be famous.  I have my brushes with fame- my cousin married Willie Aames (Tommy Bradford from 'Eight is Enough' and Buddy on 'Charles in Charge' for all you older gens!) I went to their wedding and drank from Scott Baio's apple cider glass after he left the table.  I kissed Davey Jones from the Monkees during their comeback tour in the 80's (He was going for the cheek but I turned my head- sneaky me!) I even was an extra in a film called "The Butter Cream Gang" (the girl wearing the blue dress in the church scene.)   I was in a musical once and even sang back up once in a friends band. I even tried to model once.  I was told my "features are too soft" and I had to lose weight (at that time I was a size 6/8.)

Oh yes- I was star struck.  But, my dreams far outmatched my talents.  The painful truth was that I didn't have the voice or the acting ability needed to make it a career.

I knew what I wanted.  God knew better. (Thank goodness!)

Life doesn't always go the way we want it to go.  That's OK.  The key is to trust that someone else has plans for you, too.  In both of the above cases, I knew exactly what I wanted.  In both cases, Heavenly Father knew that neither path would bring me the greatest joy.

I still have plans for my life, but I couple them with the fact that I have faith that God will lead me down the path that HE has prepared for me.

Some consider faith in God a weakness, a crutch for those afraid to take responsibility to think - or even live - for themselves.  They are wrong. Have faith that God is there, watching, listening and guiding you along.  Have faith that as you follow Him, he will direct your life for good and you will find joy.

So when you look around at your life, and you think to yourself 'This isn't what I had planned', pause a moment a ask God, 'Is this what you had planned?'

Life doesn't always go the way we want.  Thank God - literally- for that.