When Things Didn’t Go According to Our Plan

“Panic!!!!! How????”

Yes, ‘panic’ might be the best word that describes my feeling yesterday when God suddenly surprised me with His plan.

Yesterday was supposed to be our last prayer meeting for this semester. Hence, we, the CPG Coreteam, wanted to make it special by inviting a guest speaker to talk about Advent and Reconciliation. And we really thanked God that Fr. Gerard from St. Francis of Assisi Church, who stays pretty near to NTU, agreed to be our speaker.

So everything seemed to be going well at first. Our teaching team, including myself, went to meet him the night before, to discuss what he was going to share during the prayer meeting. And I could imagine that the talk would be fun and enriching with the knowledge and the down-to-earth approach that Fr. Gerard has.

However, just a few minutes before our praise and worship session started, suddenly Thobi asked me and Vina to go out of the seminar room (I was supposed to be the singer for the PW Session, but since he said that it was urgent, so I left my mic on the table and went out of the room)

Thobi received a phone call from Tommy, who was supposed to fetch Fr. Gerard from SFA, saying that he was still stuck in a traffic jam around Serangoon area, and the heavy rain really made the traffic even worse. Hence, he won’t be able to make it for the session.

“Oh noooo! This is bad,” I said to myself.

“What to do??? How should we continue the prayer meeting without him?? Many people are expecting to hear from him and now he cannot come! Oh God, what are you doing to us?”

We tried to think of alternatives to replace the talk, while the rest were having the PW session inside. We became even more panicked when the PW was going pretty fast. So we finally decide to just do a longer public testimony session. Vina and I would then do a sharing on what Fr. Gerard shared with us the day before. After that, we planned to have small group sharing session (and we quickly tried to think of what sharing questions to give).

I was hesitant at first. This was like giving a teaching session without any preparation at all. “Should I do it? How if I forget what I’m supposed to say?” However, there was a voice inside me saying, “Irma, just do it…Irma, just do it…just do it!” (maybe God also loves Nike. =P) Somehow, I felt that God was calling me to do this.

And when we prayed before we entered the seminar room, I was reminded of the talk in Emmaus a few weeks ago, titled, “When Things Don’t Go The Way You Want Them To” that one brother shared with me. And also the time when last year, I asked Tommy to be speaker one day before the prayer meeting to replace another speaker. Through them, and also through the prophecies, God was asking me not to be afraid, but to trust Him instead, that everything would be fine.

So with that conviction from God, and by only carrying the 1-page printed outline of Fr. Gerard’s talk, I gave the teaching with Vina, in a sharing style (all of us sat on chairs, forming a big circle). Amazingly, everything went pretty well! I could feel how the Holy Spirit supplied me with the words and ideas when I was talking. I was blank at certain times, but suddenly inspiration came to my mind. And I could see people enjoying the session! Oh, praise the Lord! =D

After we finished sharing, some people asked questions and again, thank God, He also sent people to answer the difficult questions.

In the end, we didn’t have time to carry out our original plan of having a small group sharing, but oh well….maybe that was how God wants it to be. =P

Then when I get back to my room and opened my facebook account, I was again surprised with the affirmation from God, through the ‘Message From God’ application that I used. It said:

On this day, God wants you to know

… that it’s time you let go. Yes, of course, you want to control so everything happens in just the way you want it. But at the end of the day, we control nothing, – it’s all in God’s hands, – has always been, and will always be. So, do what you can, and then let go, and let God handle the rest.

How true it is!

Now, I’ve learned that when things doesn’t go according to our plan, actually God has a better plan for us…It is all in His hands…
So, I thank You Lord, for You had cast all my fears and taught me to surrender and place my trust in You when things didn’t go according to my plan! =D