Originally published Monday, 08 July 2013.
A few years ago, I had the idea to hold a kids' craft event at my church. My pastor was all for it. Since we didn't have many little kids that attended our church at the time, I designed and sent out flyers and letters to several local churches. Everything was planned and I was excited. I felt it was an avenue God wanted me to pursue and might be something that could become a regular event in the community.
Guess what? Not one person signed up. It was discouraging and frustrating. It was hard for me to understand why the entire thing fell apart when I truly felt it was something God wanted me to do.
I remember my pastor at the time telling me not to get discouraged, that sometimes just because something doesn't work out the way we planned doesn't mean God didn't intend for us to attempt it.
I have had several times in my life where I felt all the signs were pointing in one direction and I felt certain that I could finally see the path that God was leading me down.
Instead, there's always been a twist in the action when I get those feelings and things don't pan out like I thought they would. It's because of those twists that life many times feels like a guessing game. I often wonder if I'm making the choices God wants me to make, am I following the path He wants for my journey? I pray and hope that I am.
I believe sometimes part of attempting something and it not working out is to see how obedient to God we are. Are we willing to take a risk on something that hasn't worked before on the sole basis of it's because God is asking us to do it? It's the place where obeying and trusting God comes into action.
If God lays an opportunity at my feet, who am I not to take it just because I can't control the outcome? It may work out and it may not, but that's not the point. The point is did I obey, did I trust?
It's in those moments where He's chiseling away at us molding us to become who He wants us to be, preparing us for the next adventure. As I've heard some wise people say, it's not about whether we get what we want or not---it's about who we're becoming in the process.
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