The Easter ExperienceSample

My Life Has a Plan

When a baby is born there is often celebration. There are tears of joy. There are prayers of thanksgiving. There is pure wonder.

Imagine what Mary must have been feeling as she held the son of God in her arms for the first time—her son. Did she have plans for Jesus? Did she have hopes for her baby boy? Of course she did—what mama doesn’t have those types of plans for her children?

Not many mamas I know would have plans that would include a violent death. So as Mary watched her son hang on the cross, the sorrow and pain for her had to have been unfathomable. 

This wasn’t the happy ending she pictured for her baby boy. Far from it—it was a nightmare. 

But when God is the author of our stories, they often play out quite differently than had we been our own authors. God’s will doesn’t exclude pain and suffering. And that sometimes seems senseless to us. 

How senseless the death of Jesus must have seemed to Mary. Do you think that when Jesus spoke to Mary from the cross, Mary had a feeling of hope or comfort? Do you think it was being revealed to her little by little that Jesus’ death was God’s plan of hope for His people all along?

When life seems unclear, God can be trusted. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

Will you rest today knowing that God has a beautiful plan for your life?

Today’s Challenge: Take a small gift to a tired mother you may know. Read Romans 8:28 to her. Pray with her. Pray that she will trust her children’s lives in God’s hands no matter what that means.