SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN

Stressed Out – (Twenty Øne Piløts)


THE STORY:

“Sounds like a plan!” How many times have you ever said that? It’s so easy to say… A plan is defined as a decision or an intention of what one is going to do to achieve something. I feel like I’m always making plans, and sometimes I make too many at one time, and before I know it, I’m right in the middle of it all and I get so stressed out… It reminds me of when I was little, my parents used to get on to me about leaving my toys laying around the house. At the end of the day, my mom and dad would always ask me to take all of my toys upstairs to my room and put them back where they belong…well I hated doing that! Taking my toys back to my room wasn’t the bad part, it was all the trips it took to do it. So I always tried to carry them all in one trip…and I would just drop them everywhere along the way…well I know that’s exactly how we feel sometimes in everyday life.

I remember getting an email in early January of this year from one of the local churches I help support each month. When I give to the church each month I try to never give to the same church twice…sound crazy? To some it may, and it actually sounded crazy to me at first, but I just didn’t want to put a limit on what God can do. And this is one of those neat stories about how God honored that and worked to teach me how to handle my stressful situations in life. Well I can only assume this church got my email address from my online giving form that I filled out a long time ago. The email was an invitation to volunteer a Saturday morning of my time to go help someone in our local senior adult community in Oxford, MS. I was actually really excited about this, so I set my calendar date for January 23rd, 2016, and I made it a plan. Well the volunteer weekend finally came around but it just so happened to snow that weekend, so the day before I received an email saying it would have to be rescheduled for a future date due to the snow…I was really disappointed… but I still looked forward to the opportunity. Well time went by and I almost started to forget about the volunteer opportunity…and one day I get another email in late February about the rescheduled volunteer work day to be on Saturday, February 27. I wasn’t excited anymore…and the reason was that week just so happened to be one of my busiest weeks of the year so far…I was so stressed out and I remember that Saturday was literally going to be one of the only free moments of my entire week and all I wanted was that time to myself…

Well that Saturday finally showed up and my alarm starts to go off…we were supposed to meet that Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. and although I was exhausted I showed up to work. I was assigned to a work team and we loaded up the truck and headed off to go help the person on our list. I remember arriving at the house, still trying to get the last sip of my coffee to wake me up, and looking up at this house on a hill. It was the home of an elderly woman, and her property was completely surrounded by these big, tall pine trees. Our volunteer duties that morning were to rake/clean up all the leaves, limbs, pine straw, and pinecones on her property and to clear a path around the back of her house. It was a job that took several hours to finish and I can remember losing count of how many pinecones I picked up from her yard…it must have been in the hundreds…but one by one I picked them up and continued to clean up her yard with the help of a great team of men. I remember when we were all finally finished she invited us inside her home. The whole time we had been outside working to clean up her property she had been inside preparing food for us…she had made cakes, sandwiches, chicken salad, it was incredible…and I remember as I was sitting at her kitchen table I was eavesdropping on her conversation with one of the guys in the next room…I heard her say typical things like, “You know I’m just getting older now, and when I get tired I just have to sit down…” but then I kept listening to her conversation and the last thing I heard her say was, “Remember to always stick to a plan, if you make a plan, stick to it…and things will always work out…”

THE QUESTION:

Do you ever feel stressed out? Do you ever find yourself making so many plans and trying to juggle which one to focus on? How can we show love to each other when we are “right in the middle of it all” and all we feel is stress? The biggest question…if we seek God’s help in times we need it the most, will He really answer us? YES…and I have proof…

THE ANSWER:

“I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink, but now I’m insecure and I care what people think. My name’s ‘Blurryface’ and I care what you think. Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days, when our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.”

Twenty Øne Piløts is an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio, featuring Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. Joseph grew up in a Christian family and even remains active with his local church. He had plans of a career in basketball but turned down his college basketball scholarship after hearing a songwriter perform at a night club. From then on he only pursued music. Dun is the ex-drummer for Christian band House of Heroes and while both are men of faith, they have chosen not to be classified as a Christian band to reach a broader audience and have a much larger impact with their music. Stressed Out, from their 2015 no. 1 album Blurryface, was the winner of iHeartRadio Music Awards Alternative Rock Song Of The Year. It focuses on the harsh end of adolescence and the transition to adulthood and all the pressures that come with it. Their purpose for making music is “to make people think”, as well as encourage them to find joy in what they come to believe in life…

2 Timothy 1:7  | For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

That Saturday morning when I woke up I was so tired, stressed out, and all I wanted to do was to continue sleeping. I honestly did not want to get out of bed and I remember just praying that God would show me some strength…so I rolled over and checked my daily devotional app on my phone and this verse is the exact verse from 2 Timothy that popped up on my phone…and the commentary underneath it read: Don’t bother your mind wth worry and fear, instead get your hands busy today and put on a spirit of love and serve others.” I was blown away by this…I felt like God spoke directly to me that morning…

I think in life sometimes it’s so easy for us to try to juggle so many plans at one time. Sometimes we try to take on more than we can handle, but if we can learn to make the right plans, have faith, and stick to them, then all of a sudden the right things really will start to happen. We not only finish our plans, but we see the right results, we feel like we felt in the “good ol’ days” and we can actually breathe again…I remember that entire week before feeling just like I did when I was little….trying to carry all of my toys up the stairs in one trip. I had been so stressed out from work and everything outside of work piling up on me…I really wasn’t sure if I could carry out my plan. My plan back in early January was to commit to that Saturday morning work day and I did…and everything worked out just the right way. As I was picking up all of those pinecones one by one, I kept imagining them each as my individual problems and I remember throwing them to the trash bag. One by one God was helping to show me how He can help us through any of our problems, even if it’s one by one…He can take care of them. And just how that sweet lady was preparing something good for us to eat while we worked, the same applies for God. He is constantly preparing a good life for us if we are faithful to trust Him. So let God pick up your problems. Trust in Him and He will be the one saying, “sounds like a plan.” Over these next ten days, try to focus on the right plan, do not be afraid, just trust God, and let’s all try and put on a spirit of = LOVE. Nothing is impossible…

Proverbs 16:9

9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Watch, listen, and share what happens when you decide to live the next 10 days in love.

(Listen below to Stressed Out by Twenty Øne Piløts)

Small World, Big God: It just so happened that one of the men in my work team knew my sister. Him and his wife had met my sister when they were going through the similar adoption process that my sister went through when she adopted her daughter from Ethiopia.

(Feature post photo by Eric Rothermel)

If you are just joining Ten Days In Love and missed any previous posts click the links below:

#1 – MAKING THE RIGHT DECISION

#2 – WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

#3 – 1 MILLIMETER

#4 – IRON MAN

#5 – ANGEL TOWN USA

#6 – TIME TO GIVE UP

#7 – POPULATION: 2

#8 – THE WALKING DEAD

#9 – HIGHWAY 9 LIVES

#10 – PUSH TO PRAY

#11 – THE FENCES

2 Comments

  1. C Olson April 21, 2016 at 10:41 am

    Thank you AD….

    I along with you have made a plan and I am excited to watch God use my brothers and sisters next week.

    Matthew 25:36
    Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

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