When the Plans Change

by Martin Wiles @LinesFromGod

I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. Romans 1:13 NLT

Transverse lie. I had never heard the term before. 

Breech I had heard of, but not transverse lie. “It’s when the baby is sideways and facing up,” my wife explained. And this was the condition of our fifth grandson, Silas.

Although the baby wasn’t in danger, his position concerned us since we planned to visit our daughter and her family in Arkansas during my spring break from school and since her due date was that week. We didn’t want anything to delay Silas’s appearance and risk us not getting to see him—or see him for long. 

The doctors gave our daughter several options, none of which she relished. She chose a C-section and scheduled it for two days after we arrived. In this way, my wife and I could watch the other two boys while our son-in-law stayed with her at the hospital. 

As always, my daughter had chores lined up for me during our stay. The day before her C-section, we visited several garden stores, buying flowers, pots, and potting soil so I could do her Dad-do list. Later that evening, my wife rubbed our daughter’s belly and said, “I don’t feel his head where it was.” 

On the day of the C-section, our daughter and son-in-law arrived at the hospital two hours early as instructed. After the nurses hooked her up, the doctor arrived for one last examination. “The baby has turned,” he said. “Do you want to go home and let nature take its course, or do you want to have him today?”

Since she was already at the hospital and prepped, our daughter chose to have him that day. Four hours later, Silas arrived in the normal way. No C-section. A welcome change of plans at the last moment. 

Paul mentions a change of plans when he wrote to the saints in Rome. Why his visit had been delayed, he doesn’t say. Perhaps, because he was busy doing missionary work elsewhere and hadn’t been able to get away. He merely wanted them to know he wasn’t wishy-washy. He would come, eventually. 

God often surprises us with a change of plans—at least from our viewpoint. In reality, the plans haven’t changed from His vantage point. And God does have plans for each of us. Plans that are good and that are for our good. 

As we make plans in life, praying to God proves vital. Foolishness defined entails leaving God out of our planning. When things don’t work out as planned, this doesn’t mean God has changed His mind or that He is a capricious God or a God who can’t handle roadblocks. Changing plans reminds us we can’t know His mind perfectly. Like Paul, we obey what we perceive as God’s will. 

Doing so requires a willingness to acknowledge we may have misunderstood God’s will initially, along with an openness to alter our direction. Obeying God’s plans also means understanding that spiritual warfare is taking place in the heavenlies between the forces of good and the forces of evil. We don’t observe what God sees. 

Our daughter adapted to a sudden change of plans. And when we follow God’s plans for our life—even if doing so means we have to change directions from time to time—we will know spiritual success and enjoy abundant life. 

Get your plans from God, but when the plans change, trust God to lead you in the right direction and to provide for you along the way. 

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When  the Plans Change - Martin Wiles, @LinesFromGod on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Martin Wiles is the founder of Love Lines from God (www.lovelinesfromgod.com) and serves as Managing Editor for Christian Devotions, Senior Editor for Inspire a Fire, and Proof Editor for Courier Publishing. He has authored six books and has been published in numerous publications. His most recent book, A Whisper in the Woods: Quiet Escapes in a Busy World, released in December 2019. He is a freelance editor, English teacher, author, and pastor.