I am realizing recently what an inflexible person I am, and how I sometimes get in God's way of what he wants to do in my life!!
A recent example is the nannying job I accepted for the summer, which has been more up in the air than concrete. I get frustrated with the job because I want regular hours, exact times, and to be able to plan the rest of the life. Circumstances in the life of the family I am working for do not allow that.
But the flexibility is what God wants, because I had an extra three weeks of free time in which I was able to spend a lot of time with people I needed to catch up with: Stephanie, Lauren, Kandice, Eric, Adam, Mom, Tim, Dad, Grandaddy, Nikki, Matt, Madeline, David, Danni, Amber, and Brock! I also had lots of time to catch up on sleep, reading, and Italian! Most of which I wouldn't have done had the nannying job turned out the way I thought.
The latest in my slowly-unbending life is a last-minute mission trip with the Junior High to downtown Indianapolis!! I am very excited about this opportunity to serve my church, my city, and the poor during this time, plus all the perks that come with a mission trip. Be praying that I would continue to be flexible during and after this trip, and that I would have the necessary energy to do it!
This lesson of being flexible instead of rigid is applicable to my travels, too. I thought I had the whole first semester mapped out, minus actually buying the tickets, but it turns out that dates are different than what I thought they would be, and my travel plans are back up in the air. My new set of questions: When will I go to Morocco? Will I get to spend time in Istanbul? Should I put Portugal on the map of places I want to go? Where should I fly in and out of? Should I postpone my return to have more time to visit people? Should I go to Kenya?
I don't want to miss out on what God wants for me because of my own inflexibility, but at the same time I don't want to miss opportunities because I failed to plan for them. I grew up with the motto: if you fail to plan, you will plan to fail. I am questioning the wisdom of this, but it is so ingrained in how I operate that I am having trouble knowing what to do.
I know I need to follow God, stick to His plans, but sometimes my own inflexibility creates impatience and lack of trust that changing plans will be for the best.
I would appreciate your prayers for this area, and also for this mission trip I will be on July 8-13. I'll let you know all God did when I get back!
