We’ve all got them. A life plan. It’s what we envision our future to be like and we set goals to get there. But God… He is always messing up my life plan.

After I married, my life was going exactly like I had dreamed it would go. Then, after 2 short years of marriage, my husband died in a tragic accident. There I was—alone, a mother of an infant son, and a widow at the age of 21. This was not my plan. But God took a bad situation and used it for good.

My pain drove me into His loving arms. There, I discovered who God was compared to simply knowing about God. My worst fear (losing someone I loved) produced a great faith in my God. It compelled me to know Him more and more until one day I was ready—ready to be used for His kingdom.

While God didn’t cause my husbands death, He used it for my good. He messed up my life plan to do for me what I couldn’t do myself.

Here’s the thing. God knows what He’s doing. It may seem strange to us—even painful—but our loving Father knows what’s best for us.

So if God has messed up your plan or dream, take heart. He’s not left you or made some mistake. He isn’t punishing you. He’s doing just the opposite. God is doing something in your life far greater than you can imagine. You’re right where you need to be because His plan is far better than yours.

I have a promiscuous heart. I’ve never been unfaithful to my husband, but I have been unfaithful to God by allowing my eyes to wonder. It only takes a moment. Before I realize, that moment turns into an hour, then a day, a month, a year. Suddenly, I’ve strayed from God, my first love.

In the book of Hosea, we read about Gomer, a promiscuous woman. Her unfaithfulness broke Hosea’s heart, damping their relationship, much like the people of Israel broke the heart of God by their promiscuous ways. Yet God waited patiently. He pleaded for their return, but the people of Israel wouldn’t listen.

The truth is all of humanity struggles with unfaithfulness to God. It happens like this. One day, I have a wonderful love relationship with God until I let my heart wonder. Suddenly, when I pray, there is no answer. I can’t find release from my burdens even when I confess my sin. I begin to worry if I’ve drifted so far, I can’t go home.

If you identify, there’s hope.

God knew Israel would be unfaithful, but He loved her anyway. Likewise, Hosea loved Gomer. This tells us that no matter what we’ve done or said, God love us.

Gomer was also a promiscuous woman. Her unfaithfulness broke Hosea’s heart damaging their relationship much like Israel broke the heart of God by their promiscuous ways. Yet God waited patiently. He pleaded for their return, but Israel wouldn’t listen.

The Valley of Achor (which means trouble) was a place of “trouble” when the Israelites first entered the promise land, but it was now a symbol of new opportunity—a “door of hope.”

“I will give her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Anchor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, as in the day of her youth, as in a the day when she came up from the land of Egypt” (Hosea 2:15)

God’s love provides an open door in which we can return to Him. No matter how far we’ve strayed, God will always take us back. That’s not a human kind of love. That’s divine love that causes my heart to sing, “Love so amazing; so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all.”

How can I pray for you today?