A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps...

Hmmm, where to begin…

Well, about two weeks ago God began teaching me something that I was not expecting, but that has been both refreshing and a bit challenging at the same time.  We had a speaker come for a week, who gave lectures on the topic of Christian Stewardship.  During his first lecture he asked us what our definitions of stewardship were.  At that point God brought to my mind the Parable of the Talents.  This was a passage in scripture that God used in my life about three years ago.  At that point in my life God was reminding me that He requires believers to take the “talents” given to them and use them to multiply his kingdom.  It is not sufficient to simply tuck them away and keep them protected until His return.  He requires multiplication and growth.  Even though this parable was not part of the teaching for the week, God continued to bring it to my mind in reference to Stewardship.  Then towards the end of the week God also gave me Proverbs 16:9, as a verse to ponder; “A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps”.   At first I was confused as to why God would bring these two very different passages of Scripture to mind.  What was He trying to teach me through these, I was having trouble understanding how they related to one another?  Finally, on the last day of lecture we were all given about 45 minutes of the lecture time to go off by ourselves and process all that we had learned that week.  I knew God had something He wanted to show me, even though it really had nothing to do with what we had been learning in our lectures, so I was eager to get away and just seek Him and discover what was on His heart. 

As I prayed I asked God to reveal to me how the two passages of scripture, which He had given me, related and what it was He wanted to teach me through them.  He began to reveal to me that I had built up some assumptions over the past few years.  Yes God has given me a clear passion to work on behalf of child victims of sex trafficking and He has given me a call to missions.  But I had begun to fill in the blanks of what that ministry will look like; I had made some assumptions.  A couple years ago I was struggling with the idea that the specific gifts, which God has given me, did not seem to fit with the passion for a very specific ministry that God has also given me.  I only knew of a few specific forms of ministry in which people can work on behalf of victims of sex trafficking, so I assumed that I would be working within one of these realms of ministry.  This was simply because I was unaware of different forms of ministry in this area.  I had assumed there were no other options.  God showed me that in doing this I had actually boxed myself in, without even realizing it.  He showed me that because of this, if His directing and plan for my life was to come in a different form then what I was expecting, then I may miss out on what He really has for me.  I may make myself blind to His true directing simply because I allowed assumptions to limit my understanding of what God has for me.  So God told me to write down the assumptions I had developed, in a list.  And then He opened my eyes to what those assumptions were, and I was amazed.  I developed these assumptions without even realizing it.  This is what Proverbs 16:9 was talking about.  I had made plans in my heart, without even realizing it, but God wants to direct my steps.  This is also what I want.  God showed me that, yes, the major call God has placed on my life remains the same.  But the form, in which this call will become reality, is in His hands.  I still do not know what it will look like.  But he will direct me when the time is right.  This understanding was so freeing.  I wrote down my assumptions and gave them to God.  So I still do not know what doors God will open for me after this DTS, but God knows.  And now I am no longer limiting myself because of assumptions.  But now I see more clearly, and I am open to whatever God has for me; even if the ministry opportunity doesn’t look like what I was expecting.  I am so excited to see what God has in store, because I don’t have it figured out.  But however God directs I will follow, and I am eager to see how He will direct.

So in the end, I had a list of assumptions that God was asking me to give to Him, and I had a list of the Talents that He has given me to invest in His kingdom.  I know the call He has placed on my life, the gifts He has given me to invest, and I know that I desire to be directed by Him and not by my own plans.  So God has asked me to rest in Him, to be open for whatever it is He has in store for me next.  Because I may very well be surprise by what He has planned; a plan that goes beyond what I ever would have imagined.  And this is very good.  I am so glad that He spoke truth over me and opened my eyes.  Now I am so excited to see what doors He opens, both in the near and distant future.  God is good!