LaQuedra Edwards gave herself a $40 “lottery allowance” that she could spend on lottery tickets. When she went to the grocery store to spend her allowance, “some rude person” bumped into her, causing her to hit a different button than what she meant to. The result was purchasing a $30 lottery ticket instead of the cheaper option she usually purchased. Irritated, she went out to her car and commenced to angrily scratch off the lotto ticket. As she kept scratching however, her anger was replaced by hope, and then hope gave away to celebration as she looked incredulously at the $10 million winning lottery ticket in her hands.
In some ways, it is as if LeQuedra won the lottery twice. First she won in the fact that she beat the odds of winning the lottery by getting a $10 million ticket. Secondly, she wouldn’t have done it if that person hadn’t bumped her and caused her to press a different button than she would have on her own.
God’s Word reminds us time and again that our plans are not always God’s plans. Sometimes He is that “rude person” who bumps our elbow, causing us to do something that we normally wouldn’t. It may not be what we had planned, but the payoff is more than what we could ever imagine. God calls us to follow Him, to bear our crosses that are almost certainly never our own plans, but in that following, we are given eternity, joy, and peace.