Life's Curve Balls

If you are anything like me and are a Type A personality, having to be in control is huge.  Wikipedia (yes, I know, the most reliable source on the internet - sarcasm) describes a Type A personality as impatient, takes on more than they can handle, rigidly organized, concerned with time management, and a "workaholic."  These are just a few characteristics and when I compare myself to them, seem to be very accurate. 
Every Sunday I make a "To Do List" for the week of things I need to get done during that week or things that I want to get done that week.  Making this list helps me get things done because if not it just looms overtop of me and makes me feel completely lazy.  When I get to cross something off my list of "To Do's," I feel accomplished! 
Unfortunately, our plans don't always go as we want to them to.  Like this week, I have been kind of lazy.  I haven't been to the gym in the afternoons like normal (I have to split my workout up to morning and afternoon) and have been taken naps, but then again I haven't felt very well either.   Sometimes things comes up that must be taken care of right away or stops you completely in your tracks making your forget completely about your list and refocus on something else.  These detours can completely take you of the course you have planned maybe not just for the day but for long term. We should all be prepared for those moments and believe it or not, plan for that to happen.  Nothing and I mean nothing is always going to go as you plan for it to, big or small.  We need to plan for the unplanned.

"Yes. Regardless of how you think an operation is going to unfold,?" I answered, "the enemy gets their say as well - and they are going to do something to disrupt it.  When something goes wrong - and it eventually does - complex plans add to confusion which can compound into disaster.  Almost no mission ever goes according to plan.  There are simply too many variables to deal with.  This is where simplicity is key.  If the plan is simple enough, everyone understands it, which means each person can rapidly adjust and modify what he or she is doing."

Extreme Ownership

Chp. 6 "Simple"

Jocko Willink

Planning for the Unplanned
I use to work as a lifeguard back when I lived back home.  While working there, I would run into the recruiters from the Air Force who were doing swim tests for guys who were looking to eventually work in Special Operations.  A lot of the guys struggled to make 50m underwater and then swim 500m within a certain time frame, which I believe was 11min and 30sec.  I started trying to help the guys who struggled with their swimming so they could pass their next swim test.  And I eventually started helping some of the recruiters.  During this I found I wanted to work with the military.  And I had always thought about joining.  It even still comes across my mind today.  I move to Bragg after accepting a position that would help our soldiers with their health goals.  I was extremely excited.  It combined two thing I loved, fitness and the military.

The job wasn't what I thought it was going to be.  I honestly thought I was doing to be training soldiers, like personal training but in groups.  Doing their PT I guess.  The job didn't work out.  I think in a way I wasn't completely ready for that job at the time, but I couldn't understand why God had brought me out here only to lose that job.  It was a good stable job and a stable income to go along with it.  Ever since that point it has been a financial struggle and a struggle to find a steady job.  I've had to borrow money, which I am not proud of, and I think a lot of people are ashamed to admit that they have to.  And yes I am worried this will always be my life.  This is not the life I had planned for myself.
My life plan had gotten thrown off after losing that job.  As I am sure for most of you some things you want to do or accomplish in life may have been put on hold at some point and some of those things still are.  But I have found things I love out here and moving here has made me grateful for a lot.
I love going home to see my niece and anytime I go home I try to see her.  But I have also found a great group of friends who aren't afraid to express their love for God and I am starting to see more of that back home.  It makes me wonder where all that was when I lived there. 
I use to have this grand plan for my life of working with the military, having dogs, going back to school to get my Masters in Nutrition, renting/buying a house, getting married, etc., but I am nowhere close to that at this point in my life.  Somewhere along the way my plans got thrown a curve balls.  My passions have changed, and have changed frequently, and still do.  And that can be frustrating.  I want to be settle at this point in my life, steady job and not have to worry about finances but that's not the case.   And as much as I hate to admit it, it's embarrassing to me to see some of the people I know have a full time job and aren't struggling financially.  Why did I get chosen to go through this and everyone else I see seems to not be?  There is stress and anxiety of course.  But I have to remember that my plans for my life are not my own. 

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts

    neither are your ways my ways,"

       declares the Lord

"As the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways,

      and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Isaiah 55:8-9

 
The way we want to do things, think about things, and when we want to accomplish them or for them to happen is not how God does things for us.  God knows when things we want are right for us or not, and when they are right for us.  You may never receive what you ask for from him or you may receive it later down the road, sometimes when you least expect it.  You are determined to make things go your way and forget that God is in charge of your life.  I think the more resist God's plans the more things seem to fall apart.  The only way to stop becoming anxious about how your life hasn't gone as planned is to switch your focus from the problem to God's presence (taken from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, May 21st).  Just watch and see what God does in your life.  It's not always going to be good times.  There will be struggles!  But God has you right where he wants you.  You may be going through your trials so that you can share your story with someone later and it will be a guiding light for them, letting them know that things will get better.  As soon as those struggles happen ask God for help, to guide you on where you are suppose to be and what you are suppose to do.  It may not come back as a clear answer, but know that God does have a plan for your life.  You just need to focus on his will and not what you have set in your mind. 
Rejoice in what God is doing in your life, even though it is beyond what you can understand (taken from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, May 22nd)

"Give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

You can never be completely prepared for the unexpected, but always know that things that are unexpected will be coming.  And when those things do whether trials or triumphs, turn them over to God.  He will get you through it one way or another.

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand,

that he may lift you up in due time."

1 Peter 5:6

~God Bless

"Training strength and endurance mentally, physically, and spiritually."