This past January I was incredibly blessed to take a trip to Chattanooga,Tennessee with the entire Family Ministry Team. The experience was wonderful from start to finish. Filled with moments of great insight for ministry, hilarious situations where the stories will live on for a lifetime and opportunities to soak up wisdom from sources whom I would not otherwise have had the chance to meet.

Here I sit months later thinking of a story I heard on this trip as the words of an inspirational woman came to me once again. “I love you, I’m coming for you and even when we don’t understand God’s plan we know we can trust it.” Beth Guckenberger said this to a child in Mexico every time she spoke to him on the phone from thousands of miles away. A boy who would one day be her son, she said this as a promise that one day soon he would come to live with her and the rest of the family here in the United States. The adoption process ended with a court hearing in which the child was asked why he thought this family should be allowed to adopt him. His response to the judge was simple, “Because they love me, they came for me and even though sometimes I don’t understand God’s plan I can always trust it.” Tears and goosebumps followed from pretty much everyone in the room.

Sometimes it is REALLY hard to trust God’s plan. Things happen in life that we have no control over. People get sick, accidents happen, jobs are lost, times are tough and life isn’t fair. Sometimes there is something good on the horizon and it seems to take a very long time to happen. It’s in these times we may not like what is happening but we know that God has a plan and we can certainly trust it. 

Explaining this to an almost 3 year old who finds life unfair a lot these days (usually at bedtime) is hard. Charlotte doesn’t quite understand that when we make her go to sleep on time it’s because we want her to be well rested and healthy for all the fun she gets to have the next day. Sometimes I feel like a toddler walking through life not understanding God’s plan. I am reassured when I look back at the trials of my life and I see clearly where God was working and leading me to exactly where I sit today.

The year Charlotte was born was full of changes and detours that I couldn’t comprehend. The year ended with me surrendering to God that I would be okay with whatever he had planned next for my life. I hadn’t planned to volunteer at VBS but it happened. I hadn’t planned to fall in love with teaching kids about Jesus but when it happened it was as if a giant neon sign was pointing an arrow in the direction I should go. Things happen, life changes God knows exactly what he is doing. He loves us, He is coming for us and because of that, even when we don’t understand it we can trust His plan.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.”  Proverbs 3:5

 Family Discussion: We are talking about Joseph in Sunday School and learning about the way his life changed so dramatically. As a young man he was sold in to slavery by his own brothers and then later was wrongly imprisoned. Did he ever give up hope? No, he knew that even though times were hard and life was challenging, if he trusted in God he would make it through. God had a big plan for Joseph, for his entire family and for Egypt. Because Joseph was repeatedly in unfortunate circumstances he was able to use Joseph for the good of so many people. 

Spend some time tonight talking to your family about times where life seemed unfair and look for something good that came out of that event.

Nikki Wheatley
Elementary Ministries Director