So, you’ve decided this year you’re going to throw caution to the wind, say to hell with fear and follow God with the plan He has for your life? Wonderful! However, you’re making sure you include a clause in the contract with God before you sign on the dotted line because you’re no fool, right? You want a second plan if you don’t mind, a plan “B” thank you very much, just in case the first plan doesn’t quite work out.  

Many years ago, I found myself in a wilderness. I couldn’t move forward, unable to go back. I was stuck, lost, and wondering why God had led me to a place of complete desolation when I thought I had done everything He’d asked me to do. You see, this is the whole reason we feel we have to put clauses into the plan God has for us before we commit. We want to be in control because we don’t like those yucky feelings that tell us we’ve perhaps got it wrong, we’re displaced, disoriented, or hidden from sight.

And while we’re in a swirl of emotions that whisper to our failed attempts, we plead with God, we pull out and point to the clause we put into the contract. “Start plan B!” We cry in our prayers, “so I can feel comfortable again, God!” But He just smiles at us from heaven and reminds us that He never did sign off on our silly little ‘safe’ clause because there is no plan “B” and there never was, just the good plan He has already determined for our lives. 

God needs us to be fully committed to His plan otherwise we’ll never trust Him. He won’t be satisfied until we get to a place where it’s a do-or-die commitment from us. Of course, God is the God of the second chance, however, He refuses to be second place in your life. When we realise there is no plan “B” we will stop trying to figure everything out on our own terms and just sign the contract that has our future written into it, regardless of what it says in the fine print. 

The great theologian, A.W. Tozer, clearly understood there is no plan “B” when he stated, “You will never know God as you should know Him until you are helpless in His hands until you cannot escape Him. As long as you can run and go to safety, you are not in God’s hands. As long as you can back out, as long as there is a bridge behind you, you can retreat.” 

There is no plan “B” only “the plan” because we need to become helpless in God’s hands so He can mould and shape us into what He needs us to be. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the bridge you long to find that leads you back to the town of convenientville? Hasn’t been built my friend because God needs you to keep moving forward.

When I was at my lowest point in the wilderness, God picked me up, brushed the dust off my knees and wiped the tears from my muddy face. He told me something that changed my need for Him to activate my plan “B” forever. He knew I was afraid to admit to anyone that I was a writer, skirting around the issue that I indeed desperately wanted to write books for Him.

And right at that moment, this is what He said, “You try things out, and it’s not that you’ve failed. Always return to the words, the unwritten pages. They whisper your name. You’re going on another path that leads nowhere…and the words and the pages whisper.” I knew deep within my soul that He had called me to write for Him, however, God knew I was scared. Scared it wouldn’t work out, afraid that I would fail again. 

Is this where you’re at right now? Maybe God’s plan for you isn’t to write. Perhaps it’s a change of career, a call to help kids or start a college degree, or helping women who need someone to come alongside them? Whatever God has ‘nudged’ you toward, you know without a shadow of a doubt what it is. You’ve sensed where God needs you to be for a very long time. And yet, you’ve held onto the notion that God would rescue you with your plan “B” for so long now that you’ve become lost along a path that was never yours to take. You got scared because you’ve found yourself in the wilderness, lost, disorientated, and frightened because you’ve forgotten to trust in the One who holds your future in the palm of His mighty hand. Joshua 1:9 reminds us to ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.’ 

So, what is it that ‘whispers your name’ dear friend? When will you surrender and become helpless in His hands so He can build a trusting relationship with you? Scribble out that clause you wrote in your contract with red ink and sign your name in big, bold letters at the bottom of the page. There is no plan “B”, and there never was because God needs you to fully commit, fully trust, and fully embrace the future He had planned for you from the beginning of time.

Wendy xo 

Have you tried to back out of the plan God has for you hoping there was a bridge behind you, so you were able to retreat back to the safety of your comfort zone?

I pray today, that God will breathe new confidence within your soul. I pray for a fresh trust to go God’s way, to yield to His plan even though it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. To feel His presence as you take another step into a new adventure. Believe that you’re going in the right direction. Just trust God that you don’t need a plan “B”. You don’t need safety or a bridge when He has got you and He will never let you go. Trust, believe and commit!