A Mans Heart Deviseth His Way

       Proverbs 16:9 in the King James says 'A mans heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps.' In the ESV it reads like this 'The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.'  Whichever way you prefer to read it, the point is the same, we can make plans and set goals but it is the will of the Lord that will stand, a concept that is backed by other verses like Proverbs 19:21; Proverbs 20:24; and Jeremiah 29:11; to name just a few.    
       My mind today has obviously been on how we make plans and the Father changes them, and mostly because this month marks three years for us in a house that we only planned on renting for one year. Our original plans were to stay there for a year, save some money, pay off some debt, and buy a house. Evidently things did not go according to our plans, but right now I'm realizing that was probably a good thing and I'm kind of glad things didn't happen the way we had planned because we are now in a position financially to afford a better home than we could have then.
      To be honest though, I didn't feel like this until recently, I didn't see it this way until just the last couple of days.  I have spent a good bit of time the last couple of years being frustrated that things did not turn out as we had planned, I have been angry at times, and I have felt stuck and forgotten by the Lord. It was disappointing that after spending so long saving up and fixing up our credit scores to not find anything that met our needs and wants in a home. It has been difficult for me these last couple years as I have watched, at times jealously, as others got the things I had been desiring and praying for. I have cried many tears of bitterness and frustration over this and not yet having a child of our own, together we have struggled as a couple to accept that things didn't work out because it just wasn't God's appointed time yet. 
     Now however, we are trying again to buy a house again and the situation is much better for us than it was two years ago. Two years ago we could have bought a house, but everything we found in our price range needed more work than we could afford or were capable of doing ourselves. And if we did find one that didn't need too much work, then it was in town or on the edge of it and that just wasn't what we knew we wanted for our family.  To buy anything decent meant settling, meant having to live in town and already we knew from experience that wasn't what we wanted for our kids. After a few disappointing months we gave up the search realizing that with the money we had been approved for at that time it would be difficult to near impossible to find what we were looking for in a home. We felt discouraged, lost, and unsure after that because we just didn't know how we where ever going to make more money, how we would ever be able to afford buying a livable home outside of town, it just didn't seem possible with what we made at the time and honestly it still wouldn't be possible if we had stayed in those jobs.
       What we didn't know, or couldn't accept and see then was, that God already knew how we would do it, that God already had a plan in place for us. He took each us out of our old jobs and into new ones that paid better and were really better work environments for us all the way around. I never imagined after our last attempt that our circumstances could have changed so much in such a short amount of time! I couldn't think then that we would ever be able to actually afford a home we loved, or that either of us would end up with the jobs we have now, I couldn't imagine then the future that is on the horizon now as an actual possibility after our last defeat in this area, but the plans of the Lord stand!
       So, I told you all of this, and shared our experience with all you for this reason, it is easy to give up. It is so easy to get discouraged when your plans and dreams don't work out and quit trying, but the Lord knows our heart desires, He knows what we need, and He provides it all at the right time, in His perfect timing. You may be facing disappointment now, but if you keep in the Lord and trust Him than you know in your heart already that this disappointment isn't permanent and is really only a set up for a better future tomorrow. Be blessed.              
     
Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.   

Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.
Proverbs 20:24
A person's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way? 

Matthew 7:7-11
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Romans 8:28
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.