“It’s hard to trust God when everything you own is in a moving truck.”
Today is a historic day for me. 5 years ago, our family was all packed up and ready to drive the 638 miles to our new church in Aston, PA. I felt unqualified for ministry, unstable emotionally, and unprepared for the task ahead. I found myself going through the motions during that period of my life. There were days I thought I would never recover and never recapture my purpose or passion. I had let circumstances dictate who I was and who I was becoming. Have you ever been there?
Thankfully, God placed people in my life who believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. He provided me with a church and Senior Pastor who poured into me. He surrounded me with people who covered my family and I and prayer. He used my family to carry me when I couldn’t walk on my own. I knew during that time that I was clinging to Romans 8:28 daily. I believed everything was going to work out according to God’s plan and for my well-being. However, I never could have imagined what that actually looked like.
Fast forward five years. I am back in South Carolina where this all began. I thought I had come full circle, but I’m in a far better place emotionally, spiritually, and physically. God has restored my purpose and my passion and opened up a whole new realm of possibilities. I have been affirmed by my peers with my recent election to the South Carolina District Board of Administration for our denomination. Five years ago, that wasn’t even on my radar. I am not the same person I was then. I have grown and matured. If I had to do it all over again I would. I am still trying to figure out how God did all of this in 5 shorts years and I am reminded of Isaiah 55:8-9:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Where we can only see the moment God sees the movement. When we can only focus on the pain God is working out His plan. I’ve been blessed over the past 5 years to get a glimpse of God’s vantage point and understand how He’s moved us from Point A to B to C. I’m thankful to serve a God who never gets surprised, never panics, and never needs a back up plan (click to tweet). Wherever you find yourself today I pray that you would be surrounded by people who love you and be reminded that God has a plan for you. I am living proof of that.
Has God ever brought you through a tough time? What did it look like when you got to the other side?
Great insight Heath! I have felt those same feelings before and know that God has a bigger plan than we can even imagine. BTW, welcome to the DBA!
Looking forward to serving with you, Tim!
Good stuff. Been there myself. Still there somedays. That full circle stuff is for real. Check out my sermon “coming full circle with God” at Yahwehnotmyway.wordpress.com
Thanks, James. Enjoyed reading the sermon.
Dude, what a great post and thanks for sharing. Five years ago, I was attending a church that I was hoping to get hired by to be their youth pastor. The church was awesome and growing. I liked the senior pastor and really wanted to work with him. I was bummed when an ‘experienced’ youth pastor was hired. I thought the new guy was pretty awesome, though I did not work with him that much. I was hurt by that situation, coupled with other rejections from churches that did not want to give me a chance. So I did not stay that involved and left about a year later to take my first position. That position I took was very much like the situation that you had in Aston. I left within a few months. However the majority of those five years, have been spent serving at one church, which I love and in the later part, started to work on my mDiv through Asbury. God is great! When we let God work in His time, we can see that he is even greater.
Though we don’t talk that often, I have to say it has been a blessing to know you the past five years and to read your facebook status updates and blog post.
Thanks for your transparency, Brian. May God richly bless your ministry.
Thanks for sharing this. Happy for you and for what God has been doing in your life. To answer your question, God has, and in some ways, still is bringing me through a tough time. Like you, ministry gave me the proverbial punch to the gut. God leads us through stuff like that in very different ways depending on who we are. My path has been very different than yours, but that’s as it should be. Glad you’re on the SC team.
Praying for you guys, Matt. May God open the right doors and close the wrong ones.
Still waiting to get to the other side.
You’ll get there, Paul, and it will be totally worth the wait.