My husband and I had planned to go to Florida for a Christian conference and to take somewhat of a break from Canadian winter. When you have a 1.5 year old, you always need to plan ahead so I had packed carefully all the baby essentials and planned on how to deal with driving a 22 hour trip with our little one hopefully sleeping through a good chunk of the trip. Everything was set and we had left at around 1:30am as per our baby’s middle of the night wake up. Everything was smooth sailing until we got to the border and we were asked about our COVID vaccination status. At the time of me writing this, I have not currently been vaccinated because I’m still breastfeeding, and that was enough for us to be rejected at the border. Despite asking other friends and acquaintances ahead of time if this would be an issue, we were told by those who had recently traveled the last couple of months, that they were no longer checking and we would be ok to travel. Well that seemed to have changed in a short span. Tired and somewhat disappointed, we drove back home and my husband would unfortunately have to make the trip on his own.
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:9 ESV
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 ESV
Yes I may have initially been a bit disappointed about not being able to enjoy a family road trip, but after the initial disappointment at the border, the only truth that crossed my mind was that it was within God’s will and there was no point in dwindling on it. This one truth stopped all other thoughts or feelings in its tracks for me. The Lord had a purpose for my son and I to stay while my husband soloed the trip. Was I angry being turned away due to my vaccination status? No, since I chose not to take it at this particular time and knew there would be a risk with restrictions. I do believe the vaccine to be a common grace from the Lord. As for the situation, I was reminded that God works in all things for His glory whether we see it or not. We have to understand that He is much bigger than us and so are His plans and thoughts.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Being perfect (in goodness, love and all aspects), we can take comfort in knowing God has what’s best in mind despite taking us on detours we may not expect. For myself, I saw some of God’s reasons for our whole experience on Sunday; a day when my family would have still been on the road if it were our original plan. Because God had decided I would stay behind, He used me to fill in a needed gap at church that Sunday when none of the regular adult nursery staff were available. My faithful sister who I had assigned to teach the older children would now be able to teach the children the lesson she worked hard to prepare, and I would be able to interact with my fellow mothers in Christ that Sunday. On top of that, because my son and I were not with my husband during his travel, he didn’t have to take 2 days to drive and ended up joining us for church that very morning to share and bless others with his experiences. My husband was also able to offer the extra bed in his hotel room to a fellow conference attendee who would have otherwise been sleeping in his car.
Our experience may seem to have wrapped up nicely, but even if we didn’t directly see any outcome that would have benefited from what we experienced, we still were given a reminder from the Lord that man’s plans can change or crumble without notice. Nothing we plan is 100% foolproof and we cannot fully rely on them. No matter what plans change and no matter the outcome, what we can be assured of is that every tiny detail has been executed for God’s glory and honour and because of that, we should be relying on the Lord rather than wallowing in disappointment or anger. When we handle the detours in our plans with a Christ-like spirit, we not only experience the joy of being assured that it is all part of the Lord’s perfect plan, but we will also be an example of Christ to others.
