Jeremiah [29:11] is one of the most quoted verses in scripture, and for good reason: “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.”
It’s a beautiful promise. His plan includes prospering you, giving you hope, giving you a future. God’s plan is the only truly perfect plan.
But here’s the tension I’ve had to sit with as a business owner: God’s perfect plan doesn’t always look like the perfect plan we’ve built for ourselves — or for our businesses.
Why Our Plans and God's Plan Don't Always Match
Isaiah 55:8 explains why: God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. Which means the plan we conceive in our minds — the launch calendar, the quarterly goals, the five-year vision — may not be the same plan God has already written for us.
That gap requires something specific from us: surrender. We have to be willing to lay down our own perfect plans so that God’s perfect plan can actually reach fruition. In practice, in a business, that can look like abandoning what you thought you should do in order to be obedient to what God is actually calling you to do in this season.
When You're a Planner, This Is Hard
I’ll be honest about who I am: I’m a type-A personality and
a planner, through and through. I have a plan for the quarter. I have a plan
for the month. I have a plan for the day.
So the practice of sitting with the Lord daily — and letting
that conversation adjust my plans — doesn’t come naturally. It’s a discipline.
But it’s one that’s changed how I run my business, because it means my daily,
monthly, and quarterly plans stay open-handed instead of fixed.
I’ve shared before about laying down my plans in a very
concrete way: taking an entire quarter off to rest and abide in the Lord. That
pause wasn’t something I planned for the year. It wasn’t on the calendar. But
it was necessary — because God wasn’t just interested in what I’d do next. He
was purposefully preparing me for it first.
Preparation Is Often About Being, Not Doing
Here’s the shift that reframed the whole season for me: sometimes God’s preparation involves less doing and more being — becoming the person He’s calling you to be, so that later you’re actually equipped to do the things He’s calling you to do.
That kind of preparation can look like:
- Learning patience in the process
- Expanding your capacity to receive
- Increasing your ability to handle and manage what’s ahead
- Building your confidence
- Developing your courage
None of those are line items on a business plan. But all of them are the actual groundwork for whatever comes next.
Trading the Perfect Plan for the Prepared Path
What God needs to prepare in you is going to look different depending on who He designed you to be and what He’s assigned you to do. There’s no universal template for it.
So I’ve stopped trying to build the perfect plan. Instead, I’m learning to trust God in the process — trusting that He is purposefully preparing me for exactly what He desires for me to do next, even when the timeline doesn’t match what I would have chosen.
If you’re a planner like me, that’s not permission to stop planning. It’s an invitation to plan with open hands.
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