Trusting God When Your Plans Fail

For the most part, the adage “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” is true. However, what if what you have planned is not God’s BEST for you? What if His plan causes for you to go in a totally different direction than you would have imagined?

A few years ago, I made plans to move from Columbia, South Carolina to Charlotte, North Carolina in hopes of starting a new job. I was a recent graduate with my eyes set on a particular accounting firm in the Charlotte area. At the time, I had an uncle and aunt in Charlotte who were gracious enough to allow me to stay with them for a few months while I was in the transition of moving.

 It was perfect! Everything appeared to be going in the right direction as I had planned. I was completing an internship in North Carolina while studying for the Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam as well. My goal by the end of summer was to pass at least two parts of the CPA exam and have a job offer from the Public Accounting firm I had my sight on. I was working at my internship during the day, taking the CPA exam courses at night, studying in between the internship and classes, in addition to preparing myself for the career of my then “dreams”. 

Through “Meet the Firm” program events and various other opportunities, I had eventually gained a great rapport with the firm. Everything was aligning perfectly! I just knew this career opportunity had my name on it! My parents and I were so sure about this career opportunity that we had even started looking at apartments in the Charlotte area.

If I could give one disclaimer, it would be:

“Everything ‘good’ is not God!”

There’s a difference between a good plan and a God plan. A good plan can NEVER compare to a God plan. The enemy can present future hardships disguised as opportunities. One thing I neglected to do was seek God for whether this opportunity was from Him. I prayed on the lines of automatically believing that this job was for me because everything was going as I had planned. Even when things appear to be going well, it is important to ask God if it’s His will to proceed. It will save you from a lot of disappointment.

After a few rounds of interviews with the firm, to my dismay, I was informed that I did not get the job opportunity! I had pushed myself and worked so hard to land this job. All of my efforts, I felt were in vain. I even felt like God had let me down because I had basically banked my future on landing this job opportunity.

 When your plans fail, it can leave you feeling disappointed, discouraged, and maybe even frustrated. Trust me, I have been there. But remain encouraged because God ultimately has a plan for your life even when your plans fail.

Shortly after finding out that I didn’t get the job, the Holy Spirit led me back home to South Carolina. Within a week, I packed my belongings and left my uncle and aunt’s house and went back home to my parents. Talk about feeling defeated!

I was also utterly confused by the entire situation I felt God had me in. I not only felt led to move back home but I was now commuting a little over three hours EVERY weekday between South Carolina and North Carolina to finish out my internship. It was exhausting!

I knew that I’d need a job after the internship, so I began looking for employment. However, any accounting firm or banking institution wanted people with years of experience that I didn’t have.

 It was a bewildering season to say the least and at first, I questioned it. I thought things such as, “How can this be God? Why would He deny me my dream job and the future I was working hard toward obtaining? Why would he tell me to move back to South Carolina when He knows I was planning to live in Charlotte? Does He not want me to be happy?”

It’s so easy to look at the situation you’re in that you didn’t particularly choose for yourself and think that God doesn’t really care. Especially when you’ve prayed or worked hard for something and God responds with a “no” or “not yet”. The truth is, He does care. He cares so much about us that sometimes He won’t allow us to settle for anything less than what’s best for us.

If He is not giving you what you desire at the time, it’s either you’re not ready for it and He’s equipping you for it or He has something better for you. If He considers the little details of our lives such as knowing the number of hairs on our head (Luke 12:7), He surely does care about our concerns. Refrain from giving into the lie that He is withholding something from you without cause because,

“…no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” -Psalm 84:11.

Glory be to God that my story didn’t end at disappointment! After a few months of searching for a job opportunity, I was given the opportunity to work at an auditing agency! Now, I’m going to be honest. My first impressions of the job were not ideal. Mainly because I was comparing it to the idea set in my mind of what I had considered at the time to be my “dream” job. Initially, I just couldn’t see this job as being God’s best for me. But, within a year or so I began to see why things panned out the way they did. I even began to eventually notice the beauty in me being denied by what I once considered my “dream” career job.

It’s not that my plans were bad or out of line with His word. Simply put, His plans were better. I sought after what I thought I wanted and He gave me what I needed. For those who do not know, public accounting firms are known to be VERY demanding. Especially around their busy season. The workload and lifestyle that my then “dream” job entailed would have been more stressful than I could handle. I got caught up with only seeing the glitz and glam shown on the front end and didn’t really pay close attention to the grit and the grind at the back end.

Among the many perks I discovered, the job God blessed me with has the BEST work life balance and flexibility than any accounting or auditing job I’ve ever come across. This perk enables me more personal time to do the things I am passionate about such as traveling and encouraging others through writings and other creative avenues. Furthermore, my plans included me moving into an apartment in Charlotte but God’s plan for me was to own a house! Within about a year and a half of working and living with my parents, I was blessed to save up enough money to build and purchase my first home! You can’t tell me God’s plan is not good!!! He did far more than I could have ever imagined for myself at that given age.  

Things may not always appear ideal but trust that God is working behind the scenes of your life. He’s not sleeping on your situation. He is constantly orchestrating and aligning things to work for you and not against you.

God knows how much we can handle and He sees the end of a thing from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). NOTHING takes Him by surprise!  When your plans fail, keep in mind that God never fails and

“…all things are working for the good of those who love the Lord and have been called according to His purpose” -Romans 8:28.

Therefore, denials become opportunities and closed doors are redirecting you to opened ones. If things are not going the way you may have planned, trust and believe that God has something bigger and better in store for you! His plans are guaranteed to be more rewarding than any plan you could ever come up with for yourself. This is because He has the power to do,

“…exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ever ask or think of…” -Ephesians 3:20.