Today’s Bread ~ Plan B

Proverbs 19:21 – You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.

The plan was to be married a few years, then start a family.

She was a teacher. He worked at an office by day and as a photographer by weekend.  She loved her job, her family and her friends.  He was a loving and attentive husband who wanted nothing more than to provide a happy, secure home for his wife.

When they saw two lines on the pregnancy test, they rejoiced.  Immediately they started planning for the future.  They discussed names and colors for the nursery.  She modified her diet and dreamed of holding her baby in her arms.  He began looking at the world through a father’s eyes.

A routine ultrasound brought their plans to a screeching halt.  Their baby boy’s heart wasn’t developing the way it should.  A future once filled with football helmets and roughhousing was replaced with visions of hospitalizations, open heart surgeries, and sidelines.  His parents were heartbroken and frightened, but resolute.  They would do what they needed to do to give their son the best life possible.

James 5:16 – Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.*

I am friendly with this couple and like them very much, but am not in their immediate circle of friends.  I heard the news several weeks after the diagnosis, when it started to trickle down from their closest loved ones.  But the Holy Spirit immediately burdened my heart.  Pray for them, came the fervent whisper.  Lift them up in a mighty way.

I approached my husband one night.  “I just can’t get them off my mind,” I told him.  “I think we’re supposed to be praying for a complete miracle of healing.”  We petitioned our closest friends, our Sunday school class and our accountability groups.  “Pray big,” we encouraged them.  “We’re asking God to heal him in such a way that the only explanation is a miracle.  We’re not praying this for our sake, the parents’ sake or even the baby’s sake.  We’re praying this so that Jesus’ name would be magnified to an unbelieving world.  And we are believing God for this miracle!”

The precious baby boy was born in July of 2010.  No miracle.

“Okay,” I thought to myself, “maybe God will heal this child the good-ol-fashioned way – doctors and time.”  Inside I was wrought with disappointment.  I had felt so burdened to pray.  I had expected the miracle.

“Rebecca,” said a close friend of mine, “you have to trust that God’s plan is the better plan.  You have to remember that He is always working for the good of those who love Him, and the baby’s parents love God.  We can’t see it yet, but God’s plan is better.  You have to believe that.”

James 1:12 – God blesses the people who patiently endure testing.  Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

Meanwhile, the baby remained stable in the NICU, and as time went on, his mother delighted in the small things:

I got to change my first diapers today and his are always dirty!  They also let me take his temperature and weigh his dirty diaper!  I really enjoyed finally getting to do some “mommy” things with him. 

Life went on, and every now and then, I felt the Holy Spirit again nudge me to pray for the baby’s healing.  Then, less than a year later, we got this news:

Praise God, Praise God, Praise God!  We got the best news today at the cardiologist.  Cohen has a full size heart!  Since they opened the pulmonary valve in December, his right ventricle has been able to grow more than we ever thought it could and it is now FULL SIZE!  We truly did not think that was possible.  The cardiologist said in December that there was a slight chance that his right ventricle could sustain the same as the left but it would probably never be full size so we were hoping to hear that he had 1 ½ working ventricles when we went today.  What a wonderful surprise to have 2 full size ventricles!!!  She also said that as of right now she does not foresee ANY more surgery! 

Psalm 40:5 – O LORD my God, you have done many miracles for us.  Your plans for us are too numerous to list.  If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.

A wise man plans for the future.  A godly man, one who truly trusts in the LORD, will willingly and faithfully follow God when his plans fall apart.

Marc and Erin would not have chosen for baby Cohen to be born with heart problems.  But their faith has grown through their journey of suffering.  They now know and trust God on a deeper level than they did before.  Their family and friends who suffered with them are standing in awe of God, and praising His Son’s Holy Name.

It is good to have a Plan A.  But at best, “A” stands only for adequate.  When Plan A falls apart, let us quickly and willingly turn toward God and embrace His Plan B, knowing that “B” stands for better.

Sometimes we don’t get the miracle.  Sometimes life turns left when we want to go right, and hearts are left broken and mangled.  Trust God.  Allow Him to give you a heavenly perspective.  Draw closer to Him in your hurt and confusion.  He is always working for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28), and He will complete the good work that He has started in you (Philippians 1:6).

When we can look at life from the threshold of eternity, we can rest in the knowledge that God’s plan is perfect.  We may not understand it in the thick of it, but if we listen for His still, small voice; if we follow where He leads and trust Him with our whole hearts, we will see His fingerprints all over it when we look back.  God’s plan is not just better, it’s BEST.

Psalm 40:4 – O, the joys of those who trust in the LORD, who have no confidence in the proud, or in those who worship idols.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for healing Cohen.  Thank You for healing him in such a way that a miracle is the only explanation.  Nothing is impossible for You, God!  Your arm is not too short.  Lord, help us to surrender to Your plan.  Help us to trust it through the storms.  Help us to remember that, in this life, we can expect trials and sorrows (John 16:33), but that through it all, You have promised to walk through them with us (Isaiah 43:2).  We do trust You God, but we want to trust You more.  We do love You, but we want to love You more.  Let Your Holy Spirit consume us.  Let Your purifying fire refine us.  Draw us closer to You, and let us feel Your Presence.  Help us to witness effectively.  Help us to use our suffering to glorify Your Son.  Let everything we do serve to magnify the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  It is in His precious name that we pray.  Amen.

*emphasis mine