Every artist has a plan for how their career should go which song releases when, which stage comes next, which door should open first. I had my own version of that plan, carefully mapped out long before life rearranged it for me.

Looking back, almost none of it happened on the schedule I set. The songs that meant the most were not the ones I planned to write. The doors that opened were not the ones I was knocking on. It took me a long time to stop being frustrated by that and start being grateful for it.

*”Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21*

I used to read that verse as a warning. Now I read it as a relief. It means I do not have to carry the full weight of getting every decision right. It means the outcome was never resting entirely on my ability to plan perfectly.

There is a kind of peace that comes from trusting that God is writing a better setlist than the one you drafted for yourself. It does not mean you stop working, stop dreaming, or stop showing up. It means you hold your plans loosely enough that when He rearranges them, you can recognize it as grace instead of loss.

If your life has not gone according to your script, you are in good company. Some of the best things I have ever written came from the songs I never planned to sing.