“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” James 4:15
My husband and I are both what I call “planner personalities.” We like to have a plan and know what to expect–which is ironic, considering we are a pastor family, so we could be called to go anywhere at any time. God has a sense of humor, right?
Our ministry plan right out of school was to find an associate-pastor role where my husband could thrive under the mentorship of an older, wiser pastor. However, God’s plan for us was to take a solo pastorate in a tiny church. There were blessings and hardships, and eventually we felt called to leave. Sadly, we felt our love for ministry dying as things didn’t go how we had hoped.
When God’s call to a new church came, we moved on with hope rekindled–hope that this new ministry would be a place where we could be used again by God to encourage brothers and sisters in Christ. However, I harbored an unofficial exit plan. If the church began to hurt us or shut us out, then we would leave. We wouldn’t let our love for ministry suffer again. Without realizing it, I was putting my hope for our ministry into my own plan.
As the years have gone by, we have been hurt and experienced many difficulties. This, of course, is part of ministry. According to my plans, we should have left by now. Yet God, in His wisdom, has been clear: stay.
It’s easy to put our hope in things “getting better,” certain people changing, or any number of things that would make ministry easier. Yet God’s plan for us has been to listen to the words of James and to be rooted in following Him even though we don’t know what to expect–for us to be able to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
When we are following God’s plan, we don’t have to know the why, when, or how for everything. We can trust that He is going to do great things, knowing that He sees how our little piece of the puzzle fits into the bigger picture. As we trust Him more and more, it becomes easier to see the good that He’s done. Instead of just seeing the hurts and difficulties, we can see the joys and gifts too.
Our ministry hopefulness has bloomed and grown into a far more beautiful hope because our hope isn’t in things “getting better,” or going according to our plans, but in Christ and serving Him. We don’t need to know what that’s going to look like, because He does. What better plan could there be?
Father, thank You for working out Your perfect plan in Your perfect way. Give us the grace to trust and follow You, seeking Your will each step of the way.
