Change of Plans
I was a nurse working with older adults, with plans to switch to community nursing at a clinic in a few years. I loved my work, and I was so excited to keep making a difference in other people's lives.
Then the Lord intervened.
My best friend asked me to marry him, so I said yes, quit my job, and moved away. When I tried to find a new nursing job, one door after another closed. The more I tried, the more I realized that my plan was falling apart.
I felt lost. I cried a lot. Nursing had become such a key part of my identity that I didn't know what to do without it.
But around that time, I started creating art again. Doodling relaxed me, and I had time now to practice. Then one day, a friend reached out to me. She wanted a few Bible verses hand-lettered on paper for her to frame and hang on the wall―seven signs, to be exact.
That changed everything.
I made those signs, and then I decided to make more. I didn't know anything about starting a business (you should have seen me trying to figure out how to set up this website!) but I knew I loved Scripture, art, and all things homey, so I started there.
And that's the story of how you and I are both here in the same corner of the Internet!
Proverbs 16:9 says: "A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."
I firmly believe the Lord wants us to plan. What starting Signed Cricket has taught me is, we have to make those plans prayerfully and then hold them with loose hands. He as God has the master plan, and He may have to interrupt our plans to keep us on the best path.
It may mean facing lots of changes, feeling uncomfortable, and maybe even crying, but when it comes down to it, being smack in the middle of His will is the best place to be 💛
Sweet Emily,
I don’t know WHAT made me read “Signed Cricket” (as I was weeding out my Inbox), but I enjoyed every line of it. It didn’t take long for, my eyes to get moist, as I read through your struggles and the shuttering of your plans in the first half of your post. The further I ventured into the second half of your post though, all that initial moist became… tears of joy, to see your realization of our Lord’s intervention in your life for the best, and especially your arrival at the wholesome conclusion that “being smack in the middle of His will is the best place to be.”
I concur with that 100%, as I’ve been there myself, time and time again.
May our Lord’s grace and peace be multiplied to you and Paul, sweetheart!
With warmest love,
Dad.