My friend Susan called the other evening to tell me her latest story about her Shih-Poo puppy Max. A few days earlier she and her granddaughter put Max and his big brother Sam in the car and headed to the vet because Max was due for some vaccinations. She said it was a beautiful afternoon so they had the car windows down a little more than halfway so the dogs could let the wind blow in their face on the way out of her subdivision.

As Susan was passing by the neighborhood swimming pool Max suddenly leaped out of the car window! He landed on his feet and began running straight for the pool. Stunned, Susan hit the brake, put the car in park and got out to chase after him. One of her neighbors saw what happened and immediately grabbed Max before he got too far and handed him back to his frazzled owner. Susan laughingly said she guessed Max didn’t like the plan laid out for the day and wanted to swim instead. Fortunately little Max didn’t sustain any injuries.

Later that evening I was thinking back over her story and it occurred to me that I can be pretty quick to jump out of a window too—figuratively speaking. There have been so many times in my life when I knew I had a plan, a God-given plan, but things weren’t going as I thought they should. So my response was/is to bail and begin a new plan. Maybe you can’t relate, but sometimes I let fear birth anxiety and ultimately fuel impatience in my daily life. I convince myself that if I’m not seeing progress then I must have made a wrong turn somewhere. When waiting on the Lord for answers or evidence of spiritual fruit takes days that turn into weeks and then months or years—well, honestly, I can lose focus and faith.

Of course I realize this isn’t how we are to walk-out our Christian faith. I wonder how many times the Lord has watched me leap right out of His plan into a plan of my own making, perhaps merely seconds before revelation was coming my way?

Thank you precious Jesus that when I veer off course or simply jump out of your plan, your scripture reminds me to trust in you (Proverbs 3:5) and to not be anxious about anything (Phil 4:6). You tell me to be still (Psalm 46:10) and rest in the fact that you, my Savior, have the perfect plan—a roadmap for every minute of every day. Amen.

C. Deni Johnson