If God has called you to it, he will make a way to it, right? If it’s God’s will for you, then it will come to you, right? Impossible will be made possible. You’ll just step into it. It will just happen. You’ll see God’s miraculous works unfold right before your eyes when you’re standing in the right place at the right time.
Yip, that’s what I thought. I thought following God’s will would almost be easy. You see, I thought the whole impossible being made possible would feel magical in a way. I thought I would just show up and things would start happening. So, when I showed up in faith and nothing happened, I was sorely disappointed. When I worked and worked and everything I had was still measuring up short, I was deeply confused. Failure isn’t what I had signed up for. Struggle wasn’t my choice on the menu of faith. But it’s what I got.
So, where did I go wrong?
Just in case you’re struggling, I want to share a personally hard fought hallelujah with you. It’s one I would have never chosen for myself, but it was the one that most humbled me, then strengthened me.
Following God’s plan for your life will cost you something. Stepping into God’s purposes will require more of you than a little sacrifice … it will require all of you. It will take all you have, then more. And there will be times where disappointment threatens to stall you. You need to know that so you can keep going. Yes, God is calling you to something. Yes, he is leading you somewhere. Yes, he has a purpose in all of this. And NO, my friend, it won’t be easy.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:14, “The gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” He wasn’t kidding.
The first time I knew God was really calling me was in the middle of my successful years. My husband and I had worked hard to build a business in Dallas, then we felt a prompting to move to El Paso, Texas to help start a church. My husband was reluctant. He knew how hard starting over would be. I was excited. Excited because of new adventures. Excited because I thought the palm trees in the pictures meant tropical instead of desert. Excited because I thought obediently following God would bring more success.
God rewards faithfulness, right? If I’m being honest, I liked the thought of being rewarded by God. I failed to read about the narrow difficult road that would be required.
We moved to El Paso to help build that church while rebuilding our relocated business. The building of that church was a disaster. The only bigger disaster was the rebuilding of our business. We struggled. HARD.
There was no money and no future prospects of that changing. This was not what I had signed up for. This is not what I thought following God would look like. I naively thought if following God required you to give up something, he would almost instantly repay you with double. Well, that ends up to NOT be the way it works.
A faithful God who loves me wildly watched me struggle. He watched me fail. He watched me hit my knees at a rock bottom and surrender in sheer disappointment. And he took all that brokenness and he rebuilt me in ways I didn’t sign up for. I had been cheap with my sacrifices. I had been selfish with my offerings. I was willing to follow God’s calling, but there needed to be something good in it for me.
It ends up God didn’t bring me to El Paso, Texas back then to build a church … he didn’t call me there to rebuild a business … he brought me to the desert to do a humbling work in me. He began showing me a faith that wouldn’t be easy. A sacrifice that would hurt. A life of obedience that would cost me something. A narrow difficult road that would lead to life.
Have you naively assumed following God will be easy?