“Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.”
My dad used to say this often as I was growing up, and the older I get, the truer it feels.
We love plans. We like calendars that behave, weeks that make sense, and outcomes we can predict. We pray for God’s guidance, but if we’re honest, we often hope He’ll guide us exactly where we were already planning to go.
He also told me once, “Ever notice the word IF is in the middle of life?” IF is central to life, but we forget that when we settle into routine – especially routine we enjoy.
Then life happens.
The phone rings with news we didn’t want. A door closes we were sure God had opened. A conversation takes a turn we didn’t rehearse. A season stretches longer than expected. A calling looks nothing like the picture we had framed in our minds. Change hit us hard.
That’s when we are confronted with a choice: Panic or Trust?
Here’s the tension we wrestle with: we believe God is sovereign, but we still resist surprises. We trust His plan, but we prefer advance notice. We quote Jeremiah 29:11, yet we panic when the promise it contains doesn’t seem to be happening on “our” timeline. We love the promise that God has plans for us – to prosper us and not to harm us – but many people fail to read the next two verses that reveal this is a conditional promise, this happens when we call on Him, AND seek Him with all our heart.
When change sneaks up on us, we must remember, it didn’t sneak up on God.
One of my favorite quotes from my favorite preacher, Pastor Erwin Lutzer is:
“Has it ever dawned on you, that nothing has ever dawned on God?”
Scripture tells a consistent story—God does some of His best work in the unexpected.
Moses didn’t plan on a burning bush. David wasn’t dressed for royalty when Samuel showed up. Esther didn’t dream of saving a nation when she entered the palace. Daniel didn’t expect his prayers to make him lions’ lunch. The disciples weren’t applying for full-time ministry when Jesus said, “Follow Me.” None of them had a five-year plan for what God was about to do next. But God’s Plan always leads to something better.
What they had was availability.
Proverbs 16:9 reminds us, “In his hearts a man plan their course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Notice it doesn’t say God reroutes us gently with flashing signs and detailed explanations. Sometimes He establishes our steps by disrupting our plans altogether.
It’s like you are going on a road trip and have your destination planned… there may be accidents or construction along the way, so you reroute. God also has a final plan for us, but He can work with the accidents and construction along the way – even when it is accidents or construction in others’ lives that impacts us.
I love Romans 8:28 – for it promises that God will work all things together for good for those… ready? He gives two conditions – those who 1) love God and 2) are Called according to His purpose.
The unexpected often feels like loss at first. Loss of control. Loss of clarity. Loss of comfort. But what if the unexpected isn’t an interruption to God’s plan? What if it is the plan?
If you 1) love God and 2) are Called according to His purpose, there truly are no changes or events in life that are outside of God’s Plan. Even when things seem wrong – or even are done in a wrong way – God still orchestrates them to accomplish His perfect Will.
Isaiah 55:8–9 tells us that God’s ways are higher than ours—not just different, but higher. That means when things don’t make sense at ground level, it doesn’t mean they’re wrong. It may simply mean we’re too close to see the full picture.
Think about it: if God only worked through what we could predict, we wouldn’t need faith. If every step was obvious, trust would be optional. If every outcome was safe, growth would be unnecessary.
Faith is forged where certainty ends.
Welcoming the unexpected doesn’t mean pretending it doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t mean slapping a smile on disappointment or calling chaos “a blessing” before your heart is ready. It means choosing trust over fear while you’re still asking questions. It means saying, “God, I don’t see it yet—but I believe You do.”
The promise of Romans 8:28 isn’t a cliché; it’s a lifeline. God works all things together for good—not all things ARE good, but none of them are wasted. Even detours become discipleship. Even delays become development. Even disappointments can become doorways to deeper dependence on Him.
So when life forks in the road and neither path looks familiar… pause. Breathe. Pray. And resist the urge to sprint back to what feels safe.
James tells to consider it JOY when we face trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces perseverance – and perseverance, once it has finished it work, will result in us being mature and COMPLETE, not lacking anything. Wow. God isn’t just fixing the problems that arise, he is masterfully using them to change us, not just our circumstances.
And THAT is why there is no room for panic, worry or stress… if we truly believe that trusting in the Lord, with all our heart – not learning on our own understanding – but acknowledging HIM leads to straighter paths, where is the place for any concern? (Proverbs 3:5-6) Worry evaporates, completely vanishing into the knowledge that God is not working to “fix our problem” He is crafting a Master Plan for our life. All we need do it trust and obey. As the old hymn promised, “there is no other way to be happy… then to trust and obey.”
THAT is why I say expect – even welcome the unexpected.
Because sometimes the road you didn’t choose is the one God designed to shape you, stretch you, and show you His faithfulness in ways you never would have seen otherwise.
And one day—often much later than we’d like—you look back and realize the unexpected wasn’t the problem.
It was the provision.
– Pastor Karl Bastian
