Now, which plan IS it by now?

      I've been thinking of how many times my life direction has changed over the years. Forget about Plan B.  This has got to be more like Plan X or Y. Here is a partial list of paid positions I have held in my lifetime:

• camp counselor
• bookkeeper at that campground
• waitress, dishwasher, cashier, restaurant purchasing clerk
• recipe pricing project team member
• retail sales clerk & assistant manager (twice--2 different stores)
• doctor's office receptionist & insurance clerk
• French teacher, substitute teacher, tutor, teacher's aide, art docent
• Kelly girl
• vision therapist
• marriage & family therapist
• trainer for butlers & nannies
• editor & writer 
• elder care provider, hospice worker
• game show contestant (!) --I've been on 4 shows, including Jeopardy (came in 2nd; won $2000); on another show I won more than $21,000. God can provide ANY way he likes!
• owner of a floral design business, & owner of a jewelry business
• pianist for parties, wedding receptions, etc.

     Trying to come up with a resume that covers my interests, skills, and talents is, um, challenging. I'm really good with many things, but I'm terrible at selling myself to the gatekeepers of businesses sight unseen.  I know: join the hordes in the same position these days. 
     Which probably is why I can't even get a call-back on a job to carry the meal trays at a local hospital.  Third generation in a food-service family, 7  years of working in the family cafeteria through high school and college, and I can't carry a tray? 
     The problem is, I can't get past all the other unemployed people for a chance to show my worth.  So, on to Plan X. Take another class to get the certificate to make me employable.
      What a blessed relief I don't need no stinking certificate to prove my worth to my loving God. I don't need to take another class with my rickety and persnickety brain to stand out in a crowd.  He looked at the whole crowded world and said I was worth dying for.
     And what an inexpressible gift to know that God is still on Plan A for my life. No matter what my overflowing drawing board looks like, he's not at all confused about my future. 
      I might be casting about, wondering if my retirement plan includes paying off student loans in my late 60's, but he is God Almighty. Maker of heaven and earth. He spoke and it was so.  Surely, my future is in safe hands. Yours is as well.   

      “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11