...And A Glimpse Ahead

Yesterday, you were gracious to come along with me on A Look Back.

And today, I'd like to take you into a glimpse ahead of our lives and into our little girl's (we chose her name!)

Now, I don't claim to know the future. Prophesy and all of that hoopla are not my forte.

Heck, I don't even know what I'm going to have for breakfast in the morning, none the less what my future looks like.

Really, in the last two years I have learned so much about trying to plan out my future and come up with my own "master plan," without consulting God's master plan.

If you go back into the archives of this blog for 2008, you'll find post after post about what I wanted for my life.

I wanted a husband and a house in the suburbs.

I wanted children and the perfect job as a teacher.

I wanted a church that would serve me and friends to surround me.

Turns out, my plans were a little self centered {ha! a little!}

God used that first year of marriage to shake things up and teach me that He was in charge, despite my best efforts to plan things out to the "t."

And when, in the midst of losing job after job, 8 months of unemployment, 6 moves, 2 of which were international moves, and a year long difficulty of getting pregnant, I often found myself asking God for the "why?" behind all of this.

I'd beg to be let in on the plan. I knew He had it, and that it wasn't up to me, but I just didn't understand why!

Again and again, Jeremiah 29:11 was brought before me:

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Turns out, God wasn't going to fill in my day timer with all of the daily essentials for the year 2010. He certainly wasn't filling out the "Future Planning," pages for 2011 to 2013.

Instead, He let me in on all of the information that my little mind could handle.

He had not forgotten or forsaken little ol' me. He had big plans and those plans were not for the harm of me and my family. His plan involved a little something called hope and a future, which were given to us through His Son, Christ.

I find it ironic that through all of this learning, God has the grace to allow us to "plan," ahead in one aspect. We have the honor of choosing a name for our little girl. I may not know what her future looks like, where she'll live, or who she'll hang out with, but, for a little while anyways, I do know what she'll be called.

Our little girl's name is Grace Madeline Galloway.

Grace because we liked the name and were so excited about the fact that everytime we say her name, whether in joy or anger, we'll be reminded of the grace that has been bestowed on us.

Madeline (said Ma-Duh-Lynn but I didn't want to spell it Madalyn) because, well, we just stumbled on that one. Turns out, it's really hard to find a middle name that sounds good with such a short first name like Grace. We loved Grace Anne but didn't want her initials to be GAG (you have to think about these things!) Then we loved Grace Evangeline because of the beautiful meaning in that name, but I couldn't get on board 100% with Evangeline, mainly because it reminded me of a certain actress named Angelina, who I really don't appreciate.

So, Grace Madeline it is!

A tiny, beautiful, bundle of joy that will be the closest thing to "A Plan to Prosper," that I'll ever be able to hold in my two hands.

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

...And A Glimpse Ahead