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Today we welcome our guest Evelyn Willis.

“For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

I’m a planner –a list-maker.

That is one of the things that attracted me to Rick. He was a planner. He was able to clearly articulate his goals for the upcoming year, five years, and even ten years out. We had plans. So when Rick died suddenly at fifty-eight years of age, I was lost. I didn’t know what to do. It was not supposed to happen like this. This wasn’t part of my plan.

Rick and I met through a mutual friend in December of 1982. We began dating in January of 1983, he proposed in March, and we married five months later. It was a whirlwind! I knew he was “the one” because I had a list of things I was prayerfully looking for in a husband and Rick quickly checked off most of the things I was looking for. So we began to plan our lives together. We planned where we would live so that our children could go to the best schools possible. We planned family vacations. We planned quarterly getaways to keep our marriage fresh. We planned for college for our children. We made plans financially so that we would be set in our retirement.

We had plans!

We planned to travel. We had planned to grow old together.

What I hadn’t planned on was being a widow at fifty-two. I hadn’t planned on kissing my husband as I left for work only to get a call before lunch that he had collapsed, never to regain consciousness. I hadn’t planned on burying my husband five months after our thirtieth anniversary. I hadn’t planned on being a single mother.

This is not what I’d planned, Lord!

I was lost! I cried out to God in my anguish. What was I supposed to do without Rick– my love, my best friend, my covering? What now, Lord? We had plans! Then the Ultimate Planner, the One who knows the number of my days, who knew me in my mother’s womb, spoke to me so clearly. He reminded me that His plans for me did not die when Rick died. He still had a plan and a purpose for my life. That word spoken quietly to my heart did not solve all my problems or alleviate all my pains and questions, but it did give me a reason to hope. Enough hope to keep moving forward.

For now, that will have to be enough… And it is.

I can begin to plan again.

Father, thank You for the plans You have for our lives. Help us to trust You as those plans unfold for our good. In Your name, Amen.