What are your plans for your life? Do you have it all mapped out for the next five, ten, twenty, or fifty years? Does your plan include professional goals with regular promotions? Is God included in your plan? Have you sought God’s plan for your life?
We make plans. We make plans for vacations months in advance. We make plans for our education. We make plans for purchasing a home. We make plans to get married. We make plans for a rewarding profession, one that we are interested in.
I have never been one to plan several years in advance, at least not in detail. I am more apt to plan by setting general goals. For example, I refinanced my home as a ten-year loan with the goal to pay it off earlier, if possible. But I never planned out my career, simply believing that if I did a good job, I would be promoted.
When it came to moving into ministry, my original plan was to be a part-time pastor serving small, country churches while continuing my other profession. I saw the lack of pastors, had taken a spiritual gifts survey, and had seen that I had a handful of gifts that would benefit me as a pastor. I was also encouraged by a few key people to go into ministry.
God had bigger plans for my ministry efforts. His planned included me leaving my other profession and going into full-time ministry. Thankfully, both my wife and I were praying, listening, and observing what God was doing in our lives as we went through this transition. The key to all of it was we trusted God had a plan and were willing to follow it.
God has a plan for each one of us. When we are willing to follow his plan, we experience the best of God’s blessings. That does not always include financial gain, but it does include blessings we do not expect. We cannot always see very far down the road. We must trust God and take the next step that he has illuminated for us. It can be a little scary. Yet when we trust God, he removes our fear and grants us peace.
I pray we all seek to follow God’s plan for our lives. I pray we pray, listen, and observe what he is doing in our lives. I pray each one of us puts our hope and trust that God will provide for our future. Seek God’s plan for you. Pray. Listen. Observe. Trust God. Put your hope in him.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Marty Pressey 