Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. (NLT)

The week had been slow, but I'd been in full-time ministry long enough to know that things can change in a second — and they did.

Besides my normal schedule, all I had planned for the next day was to pray with our church mission team at 6 a.m. They were leaving for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA. Then, I received a call from a church member. Her husband would be having surgery around 7 a.m. On the way to church that evening, my wife's brother called. He was on the list to receive a heart transplant and had just left the doctor's office. They wanted him at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston at 4 p.m. the next day. He had no one to take him. Without the heart, his days were numbered.

Suddenly, my game plan had changed — a change not only for us but for my two grown children. Since my wife keeps our grandchildren, a change in our game plan means one in theirs. They have no dependable back-up plan, so a last-minute call from us can put them in a quandary. But they know that I'm on 24-hour call, and things can change in a moment.

I like to initiate change — when it's needed and when the end result will entail a helpful alteration — but I don't like it to be thrust upon me. I'm a creature of habit, and this change meant getting up two hours earlier, as well as a four-hour drive to the hospital — and to an area that I dislike. I'd have to work from the car, and we'd be lucky to get home by midnight — a long day.

Trusting in the Lord with all my heart and depending on Him rather than on my own understanding isn't easy — or always convenient. A part of following Him means making myself available to opportunities that He sends — even when they change the game plan. Our mission team needed prayer, and so did the man having surgery. My wife's brother also needed our help. Three opportunities. Three chances to serve.

When God changes our game plan, let's trust that He has a reason. Then, let's enjoy the chance that He's giving us to serve.

Prayer: Father, though we don't enjoy changes thrust upon us, help us to trust that You have a reason. Then, prompt us to serve in love. Amen.

Forward this devotional     Share on Facebook

About the author:

Martin Wiles <mandmwiles@gmail.com>
Greenwood, South Carolina, USA
Send your feedback to the author