Problems to Promise: When God Rewrites the Plan

What if the problem you’re walking through right now…
 is actually part of the promise you’ve been praying for?

In this powerful and real-time episode, Sherry shares a deeply personal look at what it means to trust God when life doesn’t go according to plan. From moments of clarity and open doors… to unexpected disruption, physical challenges, and emotional tension—this episode walks through the journey from promise to process.

You’ll hear how God gives the promise first…
 but often rewrites the plan in ways we never expected.

And just when it feels like everything is aligning—
 the problems show up.

But what if those problems aren’t setbacks?

What if they’re preparation?

What if they’re positioning you for something greater?

Through honest storytelling and faith-filled perspective, Sherry unpacks the path from:
 ✨ Promise
 ➡️ Plan
 ➡️ Problems (the tests)
 ➡️ Possibilities
 ➡️ Promise Fulfilled through obedience

If you’ve ever wondered:

•  “Did I miss what God told me?” 
•  “Why doesn’t my life look like the promise?” 
•  “How do I keep moving forward when everything feels off?” 

This episode is for you.

💛 Challenge:
Stop asking “Why is this happening?”
Start asking “God, how are You going to use this?”

📲 Don’t keep this to yourself—share it with another woman who needs this reminder today.

🙏 Need prayer? Call our 24-hour prayer line: 855-822-PRAY
🎙️ It’s a Single Mom Thing with Sherry
Helping women walk through life with faith, strength, and purpose—one real conversation at a time.

Transcript

Welcome And Showing Up Foggy

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to It's a Single Mom Thing. The show for Single Moms by Single Moms. This is Sherry, your host, and I am happy you are here today. It's a single mom thing, and not the single thing that stops you.

The Promise Comes Before The Plan

SPEAKER_01 0:15

So hello ladies, and just a quick heads up before we get started. I'm not totally 100% today, I'm just saying I'm a little foggy, still trying to find my rhythm, but honestly, that fits this message perfectly. Of course it does, because this isn't about showing up when everything feels right, is it? It's just about showing up anyways. So let's get on with our podcast. So you know what I've realized recently? And that's that most of us don't struggle with the promise God gave us. What we struggle with is the way He chooses to get us there. Because if we're being honest with ourselves, okay, we do want the promise, am I right? And maybe that's where you are right now. You know what God said, you felt it, you believed it. But if you're being honest, your life doesn't look anything like it. And you are kind of left wondering, well, uh, did I miss it? Or is God even in this? Welcome to another episode of It's a Single Mom Thing with your girl Sherry. And today we are talking about what happens when God gives you a promise, but the path to it looks nothing like you expected. The promise comes first. And again, so what I have learned is that God gives you the promise first, not the plan, not the details, not even the timeline, just simply the knowing. The knowing, that quiet but undeniable sense that there's more. For me, I always knew I was going to impact women. Like I just knew it. I saw myself speaking, writing, encouraging. I thought, ooh, I'm gonna be that woman, you know, the one on the stage with the mic, inspiring from a place of having it all together. But what I didn't realize was this. I had the promise, but I had already decided how it was going to happen. And that's where things got a little twisted for this sister. Because listen, what if, what if the problem, ladies, isn't that you heard God wrong? What if it's that you pictured it wrong?

unknown 2:28

Hmm.

When Disruption Hits Your Body And Heart

Obedience Without Clarity Creates Possibility

Share It Get Prayer And Closing

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Well, what do you mean by that, Sherry? Well, here you go. You see, because for me, I didn't miss the promise, I just misunderstood the process. And maybe you too, maybe you too didn't miss it either, but maybe God did speak something to your heart. Maybe that desire, that pull, that vision, it was real. But somewhere along the way, you attached it to a version of your life that God never planned to use. Because here's the part that nobody tells you. After the promise, that's when the plan comes. And let me just say this now. It's probably not going to look anything like yours. When God rewrites the plan. So again, because after the promise comes the plan, and then that's where things can go a little sideways, right? Well, because listen, I didn't just receive the promise. How do I know this? How do I know that things can go sideways? Because I started building a plan around it. And if I'm being honest, that plan came from a place of self. You see, at the time I wasn't saved yet, so everything that I imagined was filtered through what I thought it should look like: success, platform recognition. I thought I was going to be that inspirational speaker, that author impacting women from a place that looked put together, polished, and honestly, a little picture perfect and a pair of pumps. But then God stepped in. And he didn't take the promise away. No, he didn't do that, but he did refine it. He reframed it. He took what I thought was going to be about influence and check it. This is what he did. He made it about impact. Same promise, different process. Because once I gave my life to Christ, everything shifted. And I know there's people listening that can say, Amen to that. Yes, you've experienced the same thing. And maybe for you, it didn't happen overnight. Most certainly it probably didn't, not perfectly, but it did deeply. And here's something I don't talk about often. For the first seven years of my single mom journey, I wasn't walking with God. Oh no, we weren't even holding hands. So even the path that I was on, the decisions I was making, the way I was trying to figure it all out, was still rooted in doing it my way until it wasn't. And maybe that's where you've been too. You've got the promise, but somewhere along the way, you started trying to build it in your own strength, your own understanding, your own timeline. But God, oh, in his grace, he doesn't cancel the promise when we get it wrong, praise the Lord. He redirects, however, the plan. And sometimes that redirection I have found doesn't feel like guidance, it feels like disruption. The problems, the test you don't sign up for. So ladies, what if the problem that you're in right now is actually part of the promise you've been praying for? And this is the part nobody signs up for. The problems, the interruptions, the moments that don't make sense. And I didn't just learn this years ago, I just lived this this past week. I sat down and started mapping out my future. Not as a single mom anymore, but a single led woman. I was focused, clear, moving forward. And let me tell you something. It was a poppin. Opportunities were open, things were aligning. It felt like, okay, God, we are moving. And then the very next morning, 5 AM to be specific, my feet my fet my feet hit the floor and I couldn't walk straight. The room was spinning, I couldn't think straight, nausea, just like that. Everything stopped. Hospital trip, test, questions. Oh my goodness, did I have some questions? Praise the Lord though, thank God it was only vertigo. But it didn't just pass, it lingered, brain fog, dizziness. Even as I am recording this right now, I am still feeling it. And then came Mother's Day by myself for the first time ever. And if I'm being honest, there was another layer to it. A relationship in my life, one I believed was settled, didn't show up the way I expected in that moment. Even in the hospital, there was distance. And I remember thinking, this too, God, really? Oh, the places my mind could go, ladies. And maybe you know exactly what I'm talking about, because it's not always just the situation. Sometimes it's what you're walking through with people you love. But this is where the test really is. Not in what's happening, but in what you choose to believe while it's happening. Because in that moment, I had a choice. Let my mind run wild or rein it back in and remind myself. God gave me a promise, girl. And this doesn't cancel it. Problems aren't punishments, they are proving grounds. And sometimes, ladies, that's redirection. And it doesn't feel like guidance. It feels like total disruption, right? And that's exactly where I found myself. Right in the middle of the mess of it. Because in the middle of the dizziness, the hospital visit, the uncertainty, I still had a decision to make. But there was a plot twist. You see, before I went to the hospital, I had planned a solo trip for Mother's Day because it was going to be my first one ever by myself, like I said. And so I thought, let's go on a trip, what I was calling my reset retreat. My moment to sit with God and really ask, how do I want to live my life moving forward as a single led woman? And now nothing about it made sense. I wasn't feeling right. I knew a big old hospital bill was coming my way. Things were still off in my body and in my head. And I had to ask myself, well, do I pull back or do I move forward? I didn't have clarity. I did not feel one hundo. And nothing was tied up neatly with a pretty pink bow. But something in me knew if I don't go now, I might start actually shrinking back. So I went. Not because everything felt right. By the contrary, it felt the opposite. But because I knew I needed to take a step forward even while things still felt shaky. And they were shaky. Because what if the problem, ladies, you're in isn't there to stop you? What if it's there to show you how to move with God through it? What if obedience doesn't look like waiting until everything makes sense? What if it looks like moving forward while things are still uncertain? See, I thought the problem meant pause everything. But what God was saying, no, no, girl, I am teaching you how to trust me without everything being figured out. Go figure. We think we need clarity and to move, right? But sometimes we just need a little obedience. And maybe, just maybe, this was part of the shift for me. Not just being a single mom reacting to life, but becoming a single-led woman who chooses how she walks through it. Not waiting for everything to feel right, but trusting God enough to move, even when it doesn't. Maybe just maybe, ladies, what you've been calling a problem is actually the place where God is preparing you to walk differently. Maybe a little crooked like I did. I don't know, I hope not. But maybe walk things out in differently than the way you thought. Possibilities. So here's what starts to happen. When you stop seeing your situation as just a problem, you then start seeing possibilities. Possibilities you wouldn't have chosen, but ones that shape you in ways you couldn't have imagined. You see, I didn't just become someone who talks about strength. I became someone who had to live it. I didn't just learn how to encourage women, I became a woman who understands them. Because there's a difference between between speaking from knowledge and speaking from experience. And maybe that's where God is doing in your life. Maybe that's what He's doing in your life right now. Not taking you out of it, but developing something in you through it. Promise fulfilled through obedience. And here's what it all comes down to. The promise is fulfilled through obedience. Not when everything makes sense, not when everything feels good, not even when everything is figured out, but when you say, God, I trust you anyway. Even in the problem, even in the unknown, even in the disruption. Because God didn't forget what he told you. He's walking you through it. From problems to promise. So if you're listening to this today and you are feeling a little challenged, instead of asking why is this happening to you, I challenge you to start asking yourself, God, how are you going to use this? I'm telling you, that is the exact thing I did in the hospital. So for you, what if the very thing you've been calling a problem is actually part of the promise? And if this episode spoke to you, girl, don't keep it to yourself. There is another woman in your life right now who is walking through something she doesn't understand. And she needs this reminder. So share this episode. Text it to her, post it to her, listen it with, listen to it with her, be a part of helping another woman see her situation differently. Because listen, girls, we are building something here. A community of women learning how to walk this out together. And if you're in a moment right now where you need prayer girl, you need to pick up that phone and call 855-822 Pray. You do not have to do this alone either. Someone is there. Someone will stand with you. This is Is a Single Mom Thing, and today's episode, Promise to Promise, when a God rewrites the plan. I'm your girl Sherry, and I want to remind you, you may not have planned it this way, but God already has a promise in it, so you need to walk it out. Have a wonderful week, and remember, it's a single mom thing, and not the single thing that stops you.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Thanks for listening to It's a Single Mom Thing. I hope you enjoyed our time together. If you have more questions on how to have a relationship with Jesus or do prayer, visit us at www.shepardsvillage.com backslash prayer. For more information and resources, check out our show notes.