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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I believe the “God has a plan” stuff because the Bible says he has a plan.  I think the “God has a plan” phrase that Christians toss around probably comes from a verse in the book of Jeremiah.  See Jeremiah 29:11:

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.”
Of course, first and foremost, I believe the Bible is God’s word to us so that’s what allows me to believe “I know the plans I have for you…” when I read it.

But then it says “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” And you’re probably wondering, WTH, God?  Is infertility and raising a special needs child really a way of not harming me?  And my only response to that is, maybe so?  I believe God is all knowing and sees a bigger picture from a perspective that we can’t see.

Maybe what you see as harm is really God protecting you from some deeper form of suffering.  Your answer to infertility may be “I just want to give birth to a healthy child.”  And that might ease some of the pain and bring you joy.  But giving birth to a healthy child doesn’t mean that child won’t run out in the street one day and get hit by a car.  We have no idea what the future holds and just by looking at the world around us we can see that none of us is free from some degree of pain and suffering.  So God may be showing you grace through this suffering that you’ll never be aware of on this earth.

I think the problem with the “God has a plan” phrase as people toss it around today is that they’re implying “God has a plan and that means everything will work out and all the pain go away” and that’s just not the case.

From my perspective, God’s ultimate plan for us is that we believe him, love him, trust him and love others too.  Our plan might be to be happy and safe and healthy but God just wants us to love him.  See what Jesus says in Matthew 22:36-40 when one of the disciples asks Jesus what the greatest commandment is:

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

I’ve found that if I actively focus on loving God and being intentional about caring for other people, the pain and suffering that I’ve gone through/am going through (I’ve suffered 3 miscarriages), slowly fades to the back of my mind.

So whether you choose to believe in the "God's plan" thing or not, maybe trying to get more of an outword focus for a while (try getting connected to others who have kids with special needs so you can find ways to support each other, for example) may help take the focus off the suffering you are experiencing right now and help you get a taste of the bigger picture. [/quote]

according to the above, the big payoff of twisting your mind into a pretzel is gaining eternal life, which is not an option if you follow your common sense.[/quote]

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