This week: God's Plans Edited by: Jeff  
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"Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief."
-- C.S. Lewis
About The Editor: Greetings! My name is Jeff and I'm one of your regular editors for the official Spiritual Newsletter! I've been a member of Writing.com since 2003, and have edited more than 400 newsletters across the site during that time. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me via email or the handy feedback field at the bottom of this newsletter! 
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God's Plans
Several years ago, I was working at a job I loved but didn't pay very well. I was offered another job that sounded far less interesting but paid better and had a better title. When my current company refused to consider any kind of a raise, promotion, or other consideration to incentivize me to stay, I took accepted the new job offer almost solely for the paycheck and ego of the thing. About two weeks into the new job, I realized I had made a mistake and it was too late to go back to my old job.
As fate would have it, my new employer went bankrupt in less than six months and, after a stint at another company that I didn't love, that original employer with the job I loved came back to me and offered the promotion and raise I had been asking for all along, having figured out in my absence that they actually did need my services more than they originally thought. I ended up back at the job I love, and in a considerably better position than when I left... although several of my colleagues ended up in the same position (with raises and promotions) just by staying put and sticking it out for the year that I was trying other things.
Every time I think about that season of employment, I'm reminded of this cartoon, which is a great reminder that, regardless of whether it's your way or God's way, you still end up wherever God is leading you:
There have been plenty of times in my life (the example in this newsletter prime among them) where I've decided to go my own way, only to look back and realize that if I had been a little more open to where and how God was leading, I could have had a much less difficult or lengthy journey. It's something I try to keep in mind whenever things don't seem to be going my way, or when I'm trying to discern how to handle an important decision.
Yesterday, my wife experienced this firsthand. She's going to New York for a week with a girlfriend, and she missed her initial flight out of the airport closest to us (only about five minutes away). She ended up having to book another flight through a much busier airport farther away, and got to New York the following morning rather than yesterday evening as planned. On the drive to the other airport, there were a lot of "why me" questions and "I can't believe this is happening" comments. In that moment of inconvenience, it made sense to wonder why things have to be so difficult. Why God didn't just answer the prayer for her to make her original flight.
But none of us can see the larger picture. Her original plan was to get to the city the evening before her friend arrived to settle in first, but she ended up arriving at the airport around the same time as her friend was arriving from another city, and they were able to take a taxi to their hotel together.
What if God didn't want her on that original plane for some reason?
What if God didn't want her trying to find a New York taxi ride alone at midnight?
What if God was answering her friend's prayer for not having to navigate New York transportation alone?
What if God knew that the hotel room that first night would have been problematic for some reason?
When we approach the world from an egocentric perspective, it's easy to lament all the ways that things aren't working out perfectly for us. But when we look at the world from the perspective of God having a grand design - larger than we might even be able to even comprehend in the moment (or ever) - it starts to put things in a different context. Suddenly missing your flight, or making a poor choice of career path, or any of a thousand other branching paths that are presented to us as we live our lives, become less about the inconvenience to ourselves and more about what you will do with the unexpected set of circumstances you're presented with.
As it happened, my wife and her friend arrived at their hotel room this morning to find that the heater in their room didn't work; something that would be a very different experience for my wife if she were to arrive in the middle of the night rather than first thing in the morning when the staff has all day to fix it. Was that the reason why she missed her flight in the first place? Who can say, other than God? But it definitely makes you wonder if things do indeed happen for a reason, and if there are silver linings to even the most frustrating or discouraging situations.
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"New & Noteworthy Things" | "Blogocentric Formulations"
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EXCERPT: Adrius stood on the tall greengrass atop a mountain holding a petrified wooden staff. He overlooked the evil city of Nineveh as the citizens appeared like little mindless ants scurrying madly.
The violence he observed caused tears to run from his deep azure eyes. “If only Jonah’s words remained today. Yet I will do what I must.”
EXCERPT: There was a two-lane highway I traveled down for about three to four miles. Traffic ran pretty quickly, as there were no red lights during that stretch of road. Houses and fences lined both sides of the road. I was going about 55 mph, just thinking about the dinners I had planned for the following week. Then all of a sudden, this old couple in a big Plymouth crossed right in front of my path. They were turning into one of the driveways to my right. They were going five to ten mph, barely at a crawl. I was maybe two car lengths from them when they made the unexpected turn.
EXCERPT: I have never prayed to God.
Allow me to clarify that statement. I do not conventionally pray to Him as many people pray. After speaking with my Parish Priest, I was advised that the suggested method to address God in Prayer would loosely follow this format: addressing God Properly, thanking Him, asking Him for His Will, saying what you need, asking for forgiveness, praying with a friend, praying the Word (The Our Father), and memorizing Scripture.
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Spiritual: February 21, 2024 Issue [#12432]
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