Digging Deeper: When Things Don’t Go As Planned
And I will lead the blind
in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.
Isaiah 42:16 (ESV)
WHEN THINGS DON’T GO AS PLANNED
I had it all mapped out. First, I would knock out my core classes, then dive into the major requirements that were needed to apply for pharmacy school. By Junior Year, I would apply and be accepted to an in-state pharmacy school. In five years, one more in undergraduate and four of graduate, I would earn my PharmD and have a career that I loved that would provide a steady solid income for my one-day, would-be family. Then classes started and I found out very quickly that things can look great on paper but go very differently in reality. It didn’t take long for me to realize I was in WAY over my head. I dropped all my classes and went back to the drawing board. It was a difficult time of disappointment watching the dreams and plans I had for my life dissolve, having no clue what to do next.
At this point in my life I was not walking with the Lord. I was on my schedule, my way, chasing down my dreams. I had a salvation experience with Jesus several years earlier, but without any Christian community to disciple me I quickly fell away from the tiny understanding of faith that I had and turned to the world for advice.
I was walking blind as a bat through the darkness, fumbling my way as best as I could toward what I thought was a good and noble plan. And while there was absolutely nothing fundamentally wrong with what I had mapped out for my life there was one BIG problem- it was my plan and not God’s. It would take more than a decade for me to come around and finally be walking in the plan he created for my life.
Through many ups and downs, attempts and failures I learned both what it meant to let Christ be my guide and how to hold my plans loosely.
I realized that my plans seem good, but His plans are great! Good is the enemy of great!! How often do we miss out on God’s best because we are content in our good enough?
Life rarely, if ever, goes as planned and weathering disappointments is part of the deal. Looking back, I am so thankful that the Lord didn’t forsake me, that he was willing to lead me in my blindness, turning the dark to light and the rough ground to the level places I stand on today!
Minda Seagraves has been married to her best friend, Russell, for 17 years and is mom to Carson and Maddie. She is also a full-time missionary with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, serving as a chaplain to local female high school teams and supports 380 staff across four states in the U.S. and 20 countries in East Africa as the Regional Director of Talent Advancement with FCA. Minda and her family live in Acworth and have been attending NorthStar Church since 2020.