I don't know...

Life is uncertain. Let us just face it.  Life brings us many surprises.  Whether that is a good surprise like a gift just because, or a bad surprise like a lay-off at work.  Life is full of surprises. 

What I have observed from my 18 years of life is that most people have a "love-hate relationship" with surprises, as Mark Batterson put it in his book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.  We love good uncertainty, but dread the bad uncertainty.  

Although in his book, he makes it clear that we should embrace uncertainty.  

Yet, we all like to plan things…and if you like me you want everything to go the way you planned it.  I'm alsothe kind of person that will have a tad bit of anxiety when a plan is changed, even if the change will make the plan better than before. 

I don't like it when plans change!!  

Yet, think of a biblical character you would like to be like.  

Do you think Moses planned to split the Red Sea in two?
Do you think David planned, "Oh today I think I'm going to kill a giant?"
Do you think Esther planned to marry a king and then risk her life to save her people?

No..I don't think they planned it, but it was those uncertain moments that changed the course of history. 

The other day, I had something happen to me that I wish didn't…a.k.a. I lost my choir binder.  

I walked all the way to choir only to realize that the person I thought had my binder…didn't have my binder.  

So, I sauntered back to my room and looked and looked and couldn't find it anywhere.  So, I walked to the choir room to see  if it was there, and then finally found it in the lobby of the other girls dorm.  By that time, I had already missed a good 20 min of choir, so I decided to take a break and skip choir.  

Literally, that gave me so much more energy to continue with the rest of my day, and that 30 min break ended up being the best part of my day.  

13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:13-17

So, I think first problem we have with uncertainty is pride, like it says in James 4. 

We want our life to go the way we plan it and when it doesn't we are like "God, I had this all planned out!!!"  In a sense, we are saying that our plans, our better that His plans and this is certainly not the case.  

My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. Isaiah 55:8

The second is that we are scared that God's plans will be something that we will not enjoy.  Yet, the maker of your heart knows what will fulfill you most.  So, therefore He will not give you something that you will hate, only something that you will love more than you can imagine.  

So,I'm not saying don't make plans.  Plans are great, but just know that the Lord may come in and change them.  That is when we must humble ourselves.  

We must step into each day and offer our plan to God.  We must have keep our plans in open hands.  

We also must not dread for our plans to change, for it could be that very change that could change the course of history forever.  

Let us not just deal with uncertainty.  Let us embrace it. 

Mark Batterson puts it this way, "Embrace relational uncertainty. It's called romance. Embrace Spiritual uncertainty, it's called mystery. Embrace occupational uncertainty, it's called destiny. Embrace emotional uncertainty, it's called joy. Embrace intellectual uncertainty, it's called revelation" 

Man, if you know anything about me, I am a sucker for romance.  I love it, but if you ask my boyfriend, he would tell you that the uncertainty of it kills me.  

I love mystery novels, but if you asked God, He would tell you that the fact I can't figure Him out kills me.  

I love revelation, I love joy and I want to live out God's destiny. Yet, I often find myself stuck in the stress of being uncertain.  

Life is uncertain.  I have a choice to run from it, or embrace it and use it to my advantage.  

What will you choose?