I used to be a planner.

It made me feel competent. In control. Driven. Safe. It also made me trust my plan more than God’s.

So, I stopped.

Wait. That sounds dramatic. It’s not that I stopped planning completely. I stopped putting pressure on myself to have a plan.

It’s doubtful I will ever give up my daily and weekly to-do lists. Or putting things on my calendar with as much notice as possible. If my life isn’t organized, my brain feels cluttered.

But, I trust God a whole lot more with the details than I ever have before, and somehow, I feel a whole lot more content. Funny how that works.

It’s also funny to me that I once lived as if I could somehow control what would happen in a year, simply by making plans or setting goals.

Again, I’m not saying DON’T do those things. A year ago, I even wrote a post with tips on setting goals, and my thoughts on that topic haven’t changed.

But as I look back on 2023, it is abundantly clearer to me just how little control I have over so much of my life. Even when my plans happen and I achieve goals, I need God—His guidance, strength, promises, truth. All of Him.

And, more often than not, I need other people, too. God did not design us to do life alone and He knows who we need when we need them.

Giving God Your Plans

I’m sure you’ve heard some variation of this Woody Allen quote:

“If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”

While the underlying point is valid, let me go out on a limb and say I don’t think God laughs. At least, not in a sinister way or to make fun of us.

No.

I believe God wants us to go to Him with our plans. He wants to be included, only simply to get His blessing. He wants to be our guide. One we would trust blindfolded.

He wants us to go to Him with our plans, lay them at His feet, and say, “I have some ideas, God, but what do You think? What do You want for me?”

Oh, and then, we wait. God may not given an immediate response, which means that sometimes, giving God your plans looks like taking action steps without a clear yes, as long as God isn’t saying no. AND as long as you remain surrendered to His plan that could change yours at any time.

Proverbs 16:1-3 (NLT) tells us,

“¹ We can make our own plans,
    but the Lord gives the right answer.

² People may be pure in their own eyes,
    but the Lord examines their motives.

³ Commit your actions to the Lord,
    and your plans will succeed.”

It’s clear from these verses that:

1. It’s okay to have plans, but be prepared that God’s plans may be better.
2. You might want to believe your plans are right, but God knows your heart.
3. If you walk with God in everything you do, your plans will succeed because they will be in sync with God’s plans for you.

Reminder for the New Year

As we all start off this new year, I hope these verses help you align your plans with God’s.

These don’t have to be new plans. You could still be working on goals from last year and that’s okay!

Or, if you don’t have any major plans or goals, that’s okay, too. Simply walking with God, day-by-day, and being open to where He leads is really what He wants from us all.

And that’s what I’m aiming for this year.

Quick 2023 Recap

Let me list off a few things from my life in 2023 that show just how differently our plans can play out in a single year.

January

• After over a year of looking for a short-term rental property someplace warm and on the water, my husband John and I made an offer on a Mid-Century Modern house on a canal in Apollo Beach, Florida.
• We prayed a LOT about this investment, and every detail worked out every step of the way.
• Purchasing this property drastically changed how the rest of 2023 looked for us.
• We planned to buy a house or condo to rent, but the timing and details were out of our control.

February

• I self-published my first book on Amazon, Recover with God—an eating disorder recovery devotional book. I did plan to launch it in February, and God allowed that to happen.
• We closed on the house in Florida and temporarily relocated to the Sunshine State to renovate it… while still working our full-time, remote jobs. This was NOT planned. We originally hoped to buy a house that did not require renovations, so “living” in Florida for that long was not what we anticipated.
• We canceled a trip to Costa Rica we’d planned and had to eat the cost of our plane tickets. Costa Rica was partially planned, but once we bought the house, we knew the timing was all wrong and canceling was the better plan.

March, April, & May

• We lived in Florida for about 9 weeks (non-consecutively) during these months and spent the rest of the time back in Knoxville to take care of our house here. Again, NOT planned.

June

• We officially put our rental property on Airbnb and VRBO! It was terrifying and also a relief that the renovations were finally complete. Finishing the house in May or June was our goal. Becoming Airbnb hosts had been our plan for a while, but, in some ways, it was harder than I anticipated.

September

• I attended a Christian women’s retreat—the Go-Getter Girl Getaway—where I made a lot of new friends and decided to launch a podcast (after debating it for about two years). This was NOT planned until a month or so before, and I am SO thankful my friend Season invited me!

October

• I started my own LLC to start using for my personal business ventures: Hope and the Girl LLC. I did not plan to do this till after the retreat when I was telling John my ideas. He has his own LLC for flipping houses, and he encouraged me to get my own!

November

• Another trip canceled. We had hoped to visit the Maldives around Thanksgiving but decided against it due to expenses from the house in Florida. Similar to the Costa Rica trip, we had part of the trip planned but decided it wasn’t the wisest course of action.

December

• I self-published a second devotional on Amazon, Travel with God. I did not plan to self-publish two books this year. This idea came to me late summer, and you can read here why I wrote it.
• I started planning and recording interviews for my new podcast, launching in February 2024.
  • This podcast is called Recover with God, after my devotional book, and will share stories of eating disorder recovery, advice from professionals, and tips to help family and friends of someone struggling with an ED.
  • Once it launches in February, you’ll be able to listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other (yet to be determined) sites where podcasts are broadcast.
  • God gave me the idea for this podcast two years ago, but I sat on it and did other things instead. At the beginning of 2023, I did NOT have a goal to become a podcast host.
• I launched an online store with customized products that feature a few of my recent designs. (I have a degree in Art that I’m finally putting to use!) This was not planned either. I’ve used Zazzle (the site that hosts my store) for a few years now and recently saw how easy it would be for me to create my own design collections to sell. So, I did.

I guess my point with all of this is that planning can be messy and unpredictable. Not planning can be messy and unpredictable. But God, our Creator, will guide us through the mess and the unknowns if we let Him.

Whether you’re planning out every month of 2024 or you have nothing on your calendar, this message is for you (and me).

Happy new year of life, friend!