Daily Prayer: When God Redirects My Very Good Plans
Daily Prayer: When God Redirects My Very Good Plans
"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."
— Proverbs 16:9
I had a list. A good list. The kind written in actual ink on actual paper, which means I meant business.
Three errands, one work deadline, a phone call I'd been putting off for two weeks, and a slow cooker meal that required me to remember to start it before 10 a.m. I had timed everything. I had accounted for traffic. I was, in my own humble estimation, prepared.
And then the morning went a completely different direction — not badly, just differently — and by noon, my list and I had a little reckoning to do.
I Come By the Planning Honestly
I am a planner by nature. I like knowing what's coming. I make notes in my phone and also on paper because apparently I don't fully trust either one. My husband finds this charming, or at least he says he does, and after this many years of marriage I believe him.
There is something genuinely satisfying about a well-made plan. I don't think God is against that. Proverbs doesn't say planning is foolish — it says God is the one who ultimately determines where our feet actually land.
That distinction matters to me.
The Part I Keep Forgetting
I think what I keep bumping into, over and over, is that I treat my plans like finished things. Like I've done the work and now reality just needs to cooperate.
But Proverbs 16:9 is so gentle about it. It doesn't say your plans are wrong. It doesn't say stop planning. It just says — quietly, firmly — that Someone else is holding the map.
My adult daughter called me the other day in the middle of something I was trying to finish, and I almost let it go to voicemail. I almost did that. I'm glad I didn't. We talked for forty minutes about something that mattered to her, and I got to be her mom in a way that my to-do list would not have predicted.
That's God determining steps. I'm almost certain of it.
Living Inside the Redirect
I notice I'm more at peace on the days I hold my plans loosely. Not carelessly — there's a difference. Loosely means: I've done my part, I've thought it through, and I'm also genuinely okay if this goes sideways.
It's a posture more than a strategy. And I'm still practicing it.
There's a version of faith that looks like surrendering your plans before you've even made them, and I don't think that's what this verse is asking. I think it's asking me to plan with open hands. To do the work and then trust that God sees the full road in a way I simply don't.
He's not surprised by the detours. That's the part that settles me most.
What I'm Taking Into Today
My list from this morning is still sitting on the counter. A few things got crossed off. A few got moved to tomorrow. One thing happened instead that wasn't on there at all, and it turned out to be the most worthwhile part of the day.
I think that's worth noticing. Worth saying out loud, or at least writing down.
I make my plans. God orders my steps. And somewhere in that gap between the two — that's where most of the good stuff seems to happen.
A Prayer for Today
Lord, thank You for being patient with my lists. I come in here every day with my plans all laid out like You need the briefing, and You just — let me. You let me plan and then You lovingly move me where I actually need to go.
Help me hold today with open hands. Not passively — I know You made me someone who likes to show up prepared. But openly. Willing to be redirected without grumbling about it.
I trust that You see the whole road. I trust that the interruptions are not accidents. Help me actually live like I believe that, especially before noon.
Amen.
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