"Plans Flipped Upside Down!"

(Today’s guest blog features my grandson, Klay. These edited devotional remarks were shared during a worship service in a nearby senior living facility.)

“Good afternoon. I want to begin by thanking you all for having me here today. It’s truly a blessing to be with you and to have the opportunity to share. My name is Klayton Michael DeFrees. I’m fifteen years old, and I’ve been told many times that I have an old soul! I’m the oldest of four siblings, and I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, about eighteen hours from here. I’m home for the holidays, spending time with the family I love very much, and I’m grateful to be here with all of you. My Poppi asked me to share a devotion today, and it’s an honor to do so.

Klay & Poppi Making Big Plans!

This afternoon, I’d like to reflect on a few lessons the Lord has been teaching me over the past year, and then look ahead together at how we, as the Church, can step faithfully into what God has prepared for us in the year to come. 

I have a question for you all today. Have you ever made a plan that worked out exactly as you had intended?

In 2023, I decided that I wanted to study abroad in Italy for a year. I talked with my parents about it, and they were incredibly supportive. I applied to the program, wrote essays, completed interviews, and was eventually accepted. I worked two jobs and fundraised for eight months to cover the $20,000 program fee. I spent a year on a waiting list for a visa and finally departed for Italy in September.

I had a clear picture of how that year was supposed to go, but almost none of it unfolded the way I had planned. Instead of spending a full year in Italy, I was there for only three months. Instead of being placed with a host family that shared my family’s values, I lived with a family whose views were entirely opposite.

I have a terrible habit of planning out everything to the nth degree, from my schooling, to when I want to get married, to experiences like my time in Italy! The problem is that my plan very rarely aligns with that of our Father’s. Repeatedly, my plans were flipped upside down. And yet, looking back, the Lord’s plan has always been far more full, complete, and beautiful than anything I could have designed on my own. 

In many ways, the answer to living this out is one of the keys to submitting ourselves fully to the Lord, trusting that He will open doors when He wants us to walk through them, and close doors when He wills it. And in all things, we must pray not only that He would reveal His will to us, but that our own wills and plans would be shaped and conformed by the renewing of our minds and our faith in Him. (Romans 12:2).

I am reminded of Job, and his conversation with God. In this conversation, God reminds Job of his infinite wisdom and power, and that the scope of God’s plan is so incomprehensible to Job, that He has no grounding to question God’s intentions, and methods to reach his goals. At the end of this powerful and moving speech Job finally accepts that whatever circumstances may have afflicted him, it was all for the good of our Father’s plan, and later we find out, for his own good. (Job 38-42).

This same truth is echoed in Romans 8:28, where Paul writes that ‘We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.' But Scripture makes clear that the ‘good’ that God is working is not simply our comfort or success, it is our redemption, our sanctification, and our being made more like Christ.

I had a wonderful experience in Italy, even though it wasn’t what I initially wanted it to be. I was able to share the gospel with people who had never heard it before. I was able to do the will of my Father in heaven in ways I could have never imagined, and in ways that would not have been possible if things had gone according to my plan.” 

Let’s trust God as we follow His plan into this New Year!  

Mike Keppler, retired pastor,
active churchman and
doting grandparent.
Contact: drmjkeppler@gmail.com
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