In life we all know that some things just aren’t gonna go as planned. When life throws you off track do you have a plan for how you are going to react? Do you have enough grace saved up for a stormy day? Well, in this blog I’m going to share with you two things I do to help me stay calm and positive while I find the good in cancelled plans.

1. Assume The Best

I used to really struggle with cancelled plans because I had the wrong perspective. In the past if someone cancelled the plans they had with me it was like starting World War III. I just didn’t understand why plans would change especially if it was planned well ahead of time. Have you ever felt like someone just wasted your time after the plans that you all had was cancelled last minute? I know I’ve been angry with people over cancelled plans because I’m thinking “Hey I passed on plans with other people to make time for you and you just disrespected my time.”  Now instead of being mad at the person or the situation I see it as that plan just wasn’t meant to be. When you believe God is directing your steps then the blow of those cancelled plans becomes easier. Have you ever heard people say that you should thank God for the things that didn’t happen to you? Well now I assume that God is just looking out for me instead of assuming those people or world the is against me.  I start to think that maybe that trip, date, or even job position wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. Often I find that time will reveal that I dodged a bullet and then I’ll be grateful that those plans didn’t go my way. Having a perspective like this has helped me handle the cancelled plans in my life with grace.

2. Readjust and Keep Going

After you assume the best then it is time to readjust and keep going. When your plans get cancelled you have an unexpected empty space in your schedule. Maybe you want to go the relaxation route and pamper yourself with wine and a nice bubble bath. Some of you may want to take the productive route and use that time to get some work done ahead of schedule. Lastly, you can take the spontaneous route and call another person in your phone to ask them if they would like to go out with you to try something new. You can even do some exploring or see a nice movie by yourself. The goal is to accept the cancelled plans and get excited about the new options that you have with your time. So remember that cancelled or delayed plans are not always bad. When you change your perspective you can maintain your joy, peace, and cool too!

“When I give my days to God they are relaxing, productive, and spontaneous all at the same time.”   – Camille A Walker

Wow we are a few days in the New Year and I hope everyone is doing well! For many people the New Year brings a certain level of expectation. What are you expecting this year? Did you write it down? Did you create an overall theme for the year? I hope by now you are already expecting great things in 2018!!! I have learned from experience that in most cases you get what you expect. It’s amazing how when you expect great things that great blessings come to you like a magnet. Some call this the law of attraction, but either way there is something to be said about a person with special faith.

Last year I started the habit of having a greater level of expectancy than ever before. The picture above is my dry-erase board at work. I let this stay on my board the entire month of December and I wrote something similar in November. Initially when I wrote this one of my coworkers scoffed at me. It was as if she thought having faith for a great month was ridiculous. Then the coworker asked “Do you have any big plans this month? What are you expecting?” I told her “I don’t have anything major planned yet, however I am expecting a lot of great things to happen.” Never let someone cause you to lose your special faith because they don’t believe. Your expectancy for greater is not ridiculous. As humans, it is more normal for us to have hope than despair.

Recently I even tried out my faith on Amber Alerts. The last two times I received an Amber Alert on my phone I was at work and I stopped and prayed immediately. I prayed for the kids to come back home safely and quickly. Then I would continue working and after a few hours passed I would think of the Amber Alert again. Next I would go to Google and type in what I wanted to see. I remembered the details from the Amber Alert and I would search for missing kid returned home in Memphis, Knoxville, etc. Then each time to my astonishment a recent headline would read “Missing Child Returned Home Safely”! Hundreds of kids each year go missing so I don’t take it for granted when an Amber Alert turns out to have a happy ending. Do you have that kind of expectancy? Do you believe in the power of your prayers? Even more so do you fully trust and believe in the God who answers them?

At the beginning of this year I wrote down two lists. The first list is a list  of my goals for the year that I can do in my natural strength. Things that I have to put in the work to do. In order to accomplish these goals I will have to be disciplined, focused, and diligent. Then I have a list of things that I am believing for. These things will take some supernatural help. In order for these things to come to pass it will take God’s favor and intervention.  An example of this is starting a business. God is not going to manually fill out any paperwork for me or type out my business plan; I would have to do that myself. God can however, show favor on my business and cause it to have more commercial success than I could have ever imagined.  Sometimes all you can do is create a great product and promote it, after that you cannot determine how it is received. So think about the goals you have this year that you can do with some hard work and then think about the things that you are desiring that seem impossible without God. It’s good to have dreams that are seemingly impossible because then it will require you to expand your faith and lean on God even more. So this year live each month and day expecting great blessings to come your way!!!