I’m sure you have had times in life where your schedule gets so full, you don’t know how you’re gonna get everything done.  Looking back, I remember a time when, over a short period of time, what started out as just a few manageable things on a list grew into a crazy, busy schedule that lasted for weeks.  That probably sounds a little “negative” for a list-lover like me, but sometimes life is…well, just….life.  

If  you have come to know me at all, I’m not a spontaneous kinda gal.  You know, I’m a planner.  A list maker.  In fact, I may even be guilty of having penciled something I accomplished on my list just so I could check it off.  But I digress.   I plan – telling myself that my schedule will help me accomplish all that needs doing.  But honestly, as much a help as a list is, it can also be a tremendous source of stress for me as well.  

Well on one of the mornings during a crazy busy time I described above, before I jumped into my day, I was reading in Acts during my quiet time, and God spoke to me so clearly about the way I approach my lists and planning and schedules.  Check this out.

“Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, HAVING BEEN KEPT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT FROM preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, THEY TRIED TO ENTER Bithynia, BUT THE SPIRIT OF JESUS WOULD NOT ALLOW them to. SO THEY PASSED BY Mysia and went down to Troas. (Acts 16:6-8 NIV—emphasis mine)

Reading this passage, I was really impressed by how Paul and his fellow-ministers reacted to God’s roadblocks.  I know that if that had been me, I’m sure there would have been more than a few “hrmphs”, “ughs”, and “grrrrr’s”.  But not this group.  They just respected the roadblocks and carried on, doing what God had called them to do.

PAUSE TO PONDER. As I sat in that for a bit, I really began to consider how I view and respond to life’s roadblocks.  

• Do I see a roadblock as “from The Lord” or as a pain in the tushy? 
• Do I have my focus on what “I” have to do today or is my focus on what GOD wants to accomplish through me today? 

While I was answering my own questions (and acknowledging that I get annoyed when my schedule is interrupted…), the Spirit brought this verse to my mind.

“The steps of a [good] man are ordered by the LORD: 
and he delighteth in his way.” (Psalm 37:23)

Wow.  Or should I say “OW!!“.  I either believe that the Sovereign God has things under His control, or I don’t.  

Well we know that life is all about choices, and here I am again faced with a choice. 

• Will I hand over the reins of today to God, complete with the schedules and the lists? 
• Or will I continue on with my own agenda, possibly missing out on all that God has planned for my day? 

Sometimes the right choice goes against how I’m wired, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to choose.  

I CHOOSE to acknowledge that God is not only the God of the universe, but He is the God of this day…the God of “my” day.  I CHOOSE to keep focused on the fact that God has a plan for me this day. I CHOOSE to let go of my own agenda, complete with plans, schedules and to-do lists, and allow God to interrupt my plans as He sees fit in order to accomplish His purposes through me. Hard?…yes.  Necessary?…Absolutely.  Why? Because…

GOD IS GOD and I am NOT.