God’s Plan: Part 3

It was routine Tuesday morning. My wife and I got into our car and drove to the pregnancy clinic for our scheduled appointment.

We sat in the waiting room until they called my wife’s name. 

We had some scans planned to make sure everything was good with the baby.

The nurse asked us, “Are you ready to be parents?”. I laughingly joked and said “No. I need two more weeks.” She smiled and responded, “Well, it’s baby time.”

Little did I know when I woke up on May 14th, I would become a father.

That night, just after eleven, we welcomed our first child, Margaret, to the world.

If you’ve noticed content has slowed down on the Nations Outreach website or social media accounts, that’s why. 

I was racing against the clock to get things prepared for the weeks after my daughter was born, but God had other plans. 

While my plans were thrown out the window, I am blessed. Both the baby and mom are healthy and happy. 

Tomorrow, she’ll be two weeks old.

There are a lot of scriptures about plans and how the Lord orchestrates things beyond our control. 

Over the last year, I have seen those scriptures in real-time as God’s plan unfolded right in front of me.

This year had a lot of lows. 

The worst was when a Christian non-profit stole my work and refused to pay me, despite having a 10+ year business relationship.

Because of the hurt, I nearly stopped serving in ministry altogether.

It got really hard to trust God.

When my wife shared with me that we were having our first child, my purpose immediately changed.

Instead of being down on my luck, I dug in and chose to trust God more. 

All of that led me to Nations Outreach.

I’m surrounded by honorable people who want to share the gospel. 

I’m working with Christians that treat each other with respect and love. 

I’m seeing the fruit of my work turn into opportunities for our team to share Jesus and see people giving their lives to him. 

God’s plan wasn’t to hurt me or send me to financial ruin. 

His plan was to realign my life with likeminded people who authentically love Jesus and want to make him known.

I used to think it weird that Paul said “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” in 1st Corinithians. I always imagined Paul having this massive ego.

But now, I understand it.

As I’m learning to be a dad, I don’t need to know how to parent a 13-year old or even a 1-year old. I need to understand how to parent a precious newborn that’s two weeks old.

Likewise, Paul was telling us we need to become like Jesus, but there are people further ahead on their journey that can disciple, mentor, and teach us. 

Because of God’s plan, my daughter has a dad who’s imitating men who are imitating Christ.