I think that I live in the past.  I don't figure things out until after they have happened.  And even then, sometimes it takes years before I figure it out.

When Ken returned from Viet Nam and retired, he told me that I had been a good sport moving all over the country with him (as a Marine pilot).  He said--his actual words--"It's your turn.  I want you to go do what you want to do.  I'll stay home and be a house husband and take care of the kids."  (That never happened of course--too much multitasking that came with four children--especially since he had been gone most of the time they were growing up.  But I thought it was really sweet and generous that he thought he could, and was willing, to give it a try.)  He was a good sport, too.

I had loved dissection (sharks, fish, cats, pigs, etc), Comparative Anatomy, and the other Zoology and medical classes I had taken while he was away.  I had dreamed of being a surgeon, but with four kids it seemed impossible until Ken encouraged me.  So I finished a pre-med degree and applied to Med School.  But before I could go, I got this terrible tumor inside my heart and by the time I recovered--three years and counting--I realized that I would never have the physical strength to stand up in an operating room.  Something I really wanted to do, and was ready to do wasn't going to happen.

What in the world was God thinking?  My health was shot.  I had spent years taking extremely difficult classes, working very hard to make all A's and wouldn't ever be able to use the degree.  (Organic Chemistry alone was like memorizing the Tulsa phone book.)  I would never have done it if I had known how it was going to turn out.  But God knew.  And all that knowledge became the foundation for teaching the book of Genesis to young people.  Teaching them how scientifically correct the Bible is.  And how it all meshed together with physical anthropology.  With no error.

Proverbs 4: 7  "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting, get understanding."  I had a lot of knowledge, but it took awhile to gel into understanding.  God doesn't consult us when he has a plan.  He just works it out in our lives--if we are willing.