My list

A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps.-Proverbs 16:9    

Hello, my name is T and I am a planner. I love lists. I love the feeling of satisfaction which comes over me when I have the privilege of crossing a task off my list. Sometimes I add minor tasks to my list in order to cross them off and feel a since of accomplishment. I love lists and accomplishing tasks, however, God is beginning to teach me the truth of Proverb 16:9. On more than one occasion I have planned a list of tasks which I wanted to accomplish for the day and by the end of the day I had accomplished maybe one task on the list.

            

One example of this phenomenon is in regards to our residents permit. We have had our residents permit at the top of our to-do list for a week. I thought this would be a one day job but it has become a bigger ordeal. On Monday, of this week Julia and I canceled our language class as well as language practice in order to drive into town and apply for our permit. An individual in Accra was going to fax us our paperwork in order to apply, unfortunately, on Monday morning the individual did not fax us the paperwork, therefore, we were unable to drive into town. I wasted an entire morning waiting by the fax machine for documents, only to find out that the individual had decided not to go into work on Monday morning. On Tuesday, we decided to try again we once again canceled our language class as well as language practice in order to drive into town; this time with the papers. We drove 2.5 hours into town and when we arrived at the government office at 10:00 am, the man who stamps our passports wasn’t in the office. We waited for an hour until he showed up, he took one look at our paperwork and said he couldn’t do it and told us to mail it to Accra. We hung our heads, walked out of the office and drove home, another day wasted!

            

I am slowly learning to hold my to-do list with an open hand. It is easy to get bent out of shape and frustrated when I am unable to accomplish anything on my list. God has been teaching me that I may not accomplish what I want to accomplish but I will ALWAYS accomplish what He wants. I am concerned with accomplishing tasks, while God is concerned with molding and shaping me into His image and He often molds and shapes me by interrupting my lists. God is teaching me patience, perseverance, and persistence through this residence permit; these are traits which I would not learn in-less I was placed into situations which require patience, perseverance, and persistence.  Our working and God’s goes hand-n-hand. We plan our day and attempt to accomplish our tasks but we must always remember that beneath our working is God’s working and He has supreme authority to interrupt our lives and change our lists. Whenever God interrupts our lists we must remember a man’s heart plans his ways, but the LORD determines his steps.