Not My Plan

This 2013 Operation Christmas Child season has not gone according to plan.  Things seemed to be cruising along pretty well until August and then it started to unravel.

When I returned to school in August I quickly realized this would be the hardest year of my career as a school nurse so far.  Getting through each day has been extremely challenging, leaving me no time during my day to spend a moment even thinking about shoeboxes.

Add to that my daughter's wedding on October 13th, just two weeks after our major packing party, and you can see things have been hectic.

Then came this week--my plans for the Chick-fil-A collection on Tuesday night and a great packing party with a newly-participating church on Wednesday night were interrupted.

My niece (one I was not terribly close to) died suddenly and the viewing and funeral were set for Tuesday afternoon and evening.

Then last Friday my husband was scheduled for an unexpected heart catheterization on Wednesday.

Even though these surprises interrupted MY plans, they were no surprise to God.

For the past few weeks I've been reciting Psalm 23 over throughout my day and reminding myself of God's goodness, and I saw His goodness again this week.

My Operation Christmas Child team stepped up to take care of the Chick-fil-A collection and we collected 179 boxes--immeasurably more.

Meanwhile, the funeral turned out to be a true blessing.  At the viewing I spoke to my nephew's wife who told me she helped my niece pray to receive Christ last May.  What joy!

I'd been praying that the funeral would bring glory to God.  The pastor who conducted the service verified that he was sure my niece is in heaven and that she told him how sorry she was for alienating family members.  He went on to speak about God's forgiveness and the need for reconciliation in families.  Truly a God-glorifying evening.

My husband's heart catheterization on Wednesday had good results but kept us at the hospital until after 5:30 PM.  There was no way I could be at the packing party.

But the folks at Erie Christian Fellowship went to the storage container to pick up the items and set everything up for their packing party.

As you can see, they did a great job.  I especially love the game table full of stuffed animals.

And because of their work, more than 150 more gospel opportunities were packed without me being there.

Not my plan for the week.  Or for the season.  But that's okay.

The Lord is my shepherd.  I shall lack nothing.