Protect Your Tomorrows

On our drive back from a two week Christmas vacation in Florida visiting kids and grandkids, I started to write out New Year’s Resolutions.   Have you ever felt that making New Year’s Resolutions is like setting yourself up for failure?   I sure have, but it is important to have plans   That’s why we asked Mary Anne Ehlert of Protected Tomorrows to come and speak to our Friday Night Parent Group.  Mary Anne is a phenomenal speaker who shares from her heart about the sister with cerebral palsy that changed her heart forever.   She says, “My close relationship with my sister taught me what really matters, what really is important in life, not only day-to-day, but also for the long term.”   As an expert financial professional, Mary Anne walked the parents through the Eight Steps in designing a Future Care Plan.  At the end of her talk, the parents were wanting more.   The parents came away knowing that they needed to have a Special Needs Trust now and they also felt empowered with the resources that Mary Anne had shared.    So if you need to do some planning for your child with special needs, contact Mary Anne Ehlert at:  mehlert@protectedtomorrows.com or check out their website at www.protectedtomorrows.com. 

Wise people plan for the future and  in Proverbs, the ant is commended because although it has little strength, it knows and plans enough to store up food in the summertime BEFORE the food is needed. Proverbs also tells us to get good counsel: “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”

However, it is easy to put all of our hope in OUR plans and then if something goes wrong with OUR plans and things don’t turn out like we had planned, we become discouraged and lose hope.   We can also become very anxious when we start thinking that everything depends upon our ability to plan and think through every option in order to keep bad things from happening.   I have often been guilty of this as I try to do 360^o  checks during some of our STARS events.     This is when I am reminded of Proverbs 16:3:   Commit to the LORD whatever you do and HE will establish your plans.   The God who created the heavens and the earth and raised Jesus Christ from the dead has promised that if we commit what we are doing and planning to him, we can trust him to work out all things for our good.  

At the end of his life, the Biblical leader Joshua said, “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.”  

So make good plans, consult wise advisors, but remember to put your hope in the Lord and in His promises to you. He will never fail you.