MONROE – “Well, be safe getting home you guys. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but hopefully I’m not stuck!” These were the school principal’s words to us support staff as we were leaving campus for an early dismissal due to the solar eclipse.
Thousands of vehicles were making their way south to Ohio before 3PM in hopes of catching the best experience, and our town of Monroe was the place to travel through to get there. With traffic backed up for miles, many of us were thrown off our normal routes home. The day was anything but conventional. It was irritating! While many were excited to experience the eclipse, the inconvenience of traffic threw a giant wrench into our plans.
As God’s people, we have a unique gift in life by Him allowing us to have a part in accomplishing His will here on earth. What an incredible and beautiful thing it is to know that He has a mapped-out will for your life to bring souls to His Son, Jesus!
But what does that journey of His will for you look like? Is it a straight road with a guided GPS to tell you ahead of time that there is a slowdown ahead in thirty miles? Does He give you a scheduled calendar, showing you each twist and turn that will come your way in the coming days? No. He doesn’t.
The will of God for our lives is not always typical. It’s not predictable. And it’s not ironed out ten years in advance. In fact, it’s often unconventional. Like backed-up traffic on a Monday afternoon in our small city of Monroe, Michigan, it often throws a wrench in our plans of how we thought things would look. It doesn’t tell us ahead of time when a storm of life is going to pop up, when a crushing burden will be placed on our backs, or when a different route needs to be taken to advance Christ’s Kingdom His way.
Over the past fifteen years of my life, God has continually taught me of the peace that comes from taking one step of faith at a time (without knowing the other future steps). When I planned for four consecutive years of Bible college to get my bachelor’s degree, it ended up taking me eight. When I thought my wife and I would be at our rapidly-growing church in Knoxville for the first decade in ministry, the Lord uprooted and moved our senior pastor. When God answered our prayers for a baby that year, the Lord took that child home with Him before we were able to hold it in our arms.
I was convinced our next venture in Virginia would be our long-term home, but God brought us there to simply guide a small church through the pandemic. We found ourselves at a thriving church in the Bible belt where we figured our kids would grow up, but the Lord said, “Go move to Michigan and reach your hometown with the Gospel.” When we were planning to start a new church in Monroe, the Lord said, “Go help lead a young church that I already started there five years ago.”
This is often how the will of God looks in our lives. It’s not always what we thought it would be, or what we would have planned, but it is always right. Ask Joseph, who was sold into slavery and spent years in a prison before becoming second in command. Ask Moses, who God called out of his comfort zone of Midian to go back to Egypt. Ask David, the anointed king, who had to hide in caves for years before inheriting the throne. Ask Paul, who was shipwrecked while traveling to do the Lord’s work.
The will of God is often unconventional. Proverbs 19:21 tells us: “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” May God help you and I to continually place our personal aspirations, anticipations, and plans on the altar of sacrifice in order to trust in His will above our own - no matter how unconventional it seems.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Meade pastors at Outpost Church of Monroe alongside Jason Aaron in Monroe, Michigan. After serving in pastoral ministry down south for ten years, God called he and his wife to move back to his hometown in August of 2023 to reach the city with the Gospel. He and his wife, Kaylee, have been married for ten years and have two kids - DJ (3) and Kelly (2).