“We are going to all get to that place where life hurts and our hearts are broken.
We are all going to find ourselves in the middle of a Plan B…
Being a Christian doesn’t change this reality at all.”
~ Pete Wilson in his book debut, “Plan B”
One of cool toys I remember from my childhood is the magic slate.
Did you have one of those?
It was one of the few things my mom would let me buy sometimes at the pharmacy, if I was a good girl. I’d walk up and down the toy aisle, browsing at the little toys hung up on metal hooks in plastic packages, while mom did her shopping.
The magic slate was a fave and easily got the stamp of approval from mom. I’d ride home in the car with a smile, with my prize snuggled safe in a small crinkly plastic bag.
After I unwrapped my slate, I went to town, drawing anything I wanted. When I was done with my picture, I’d lift up the plastic coat.
Ssshhlp!
Magic. The picture I drew disappeared. Erased.
I could start doodling all over again.
It wasn’t too long– usually by the end of the day– the magic slate stopped working.
That plastic writing stylus apparently proved too much for the sticky black drawing pad. I’d etch some pretty deep grooves, even if I tried to press ever so lightly.
I could no longer create what I wanted, without the bumpy lines from the previous pictures messing things up.
No more magic.
I guess that’s how life feels like when I’ve hit the Plan Bs in my life.
Plan B
Pete Wilson, Christian blogger on WithoutWax and Senior Pastor at Crosspoint Church, just came out with his first book, Plan B.
I read Plan B, hoping to gain some new perspectives on life after Plan As have fallen through.
You see, plans haven’t turned out the way I expected them to– even to the ones I thought were “safe” endeavors.
Wouldn’t God “bless” my desires for a happy mother-daughter relationship and my pursuit of full-time ministry?
I’ve put my faith on the line, trusted and prayed my way through. But, God hasn’t kept my heart from being broken or my dreams from shattering into unrecoverable pieces.
Pete Wilson asks in Plan B —
“How do you reconcile two seemingly unmixable things–
on one side you have a God who is all loving all powerful and
on the other side, life that’s full of disappointment, crisis and hurt?”
I was pleasantly surprised to find Pete answering this question with a lot of heart, humor, and depth through the real life Plan Bs he’s personally witnessed, while offering a fresh take on stories in the Bible.
I was caught off guard because a lot of books tend to talk about how to get from where-we-are to where-we-want-to-be. You know… “Plan A”.
Pete marches to the beat of a different drummer. It’s an internal cadence of faith that grows through tears and disappointments.
This real faith lives behind the stories of people who find God in the midst of their Plan Bs.
And it can grow in ours.
Some Nuggets & A Doozy
Here are a few of the nuggets I found in the book that caught my attention and encouraged my heart:
“We must be willing if necessary to abandon the life we planned and dreamed in order to receive the life that our God authored for us.”
“Faith is saying I choose to believe in you, God, more than this or that tragedy.”
“The choice of faith is the fundamental choice that changes everything in our Plan Bs because it changes who we become.”
“The wall is the place where I must relinquish what I cling to for identity… Please understand, please prepare yourself because if you haven’t come up against the wall yet, you will eventually.”
This last one was a doozy.
I was initially reading Plan B, to take care of any unfinished business with God about the past. I ended up confronting the biggest fear I’ve had on my mind for awhile.
What if my husband died and I was left to raise our two boys, one year old CJ and 4 year old TJ?
I’ve sustained a lot of losses that I didn’t expect to lose before. What’s to say I couldn’t lose him, too?
What if I became a single mother too, just like my mom?
An unsettling dust bunny in the corner of my heart, I’d been brushing it to the back of my mind. Each time it reappears in my thoughts, my heart chokes and my stomach tightens with terror.
Through reading Plan B, God reminded me to put down my worn out magic slate.
In it’s place, He took my hand, brought it to rest on His heart, and whispered words that stirred my soul.
I know that I know that He knows.
Plan B.
It’s where my greatest fears are waiting, but I’m choosing to trust that He will be there, too.
~~~~~~
Do you remember the day you discovered your life wasn’t going to turn out exactly the way you thought?
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** Plan B Book Giveaway **
Today is your chance to win a copy of Pete Wilson’s book, Plan B!
Thomas Nelson is giving away copies of Plan B to THREE (In)Courage readers who will be randomly selected to win a copy of Pete’s book.
By Midnight Wednesday, 5/19/10:
Leave a comment below and share why you’d like to get a copy of Plan B.
Congratulations to our three winners — randomly selected by an online Random Generator — Heather Arbuckle, Amy J., and Kare
** If you didn’t win, here’s another chance to win a copy of Plan B! **
(In)Courage gal Bonnie Gray snagged a 1-1 interview with Plan B author Pete Wilson and is giving away three more copies of Pete’s new book.
~ Click Here To Enter ~ Jump over now to catch the interview & Enter to win a copy of Plan B!
p.s. The winner of our last book giveaway, Grandma’s Letters from Africa, is Kandace Penny! If you missed it, check out Lisa-Jo’s post after you’ve left your comment here!
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