Traveling in College
When I was in college, I traveled around the country on a musical team representing my school. I played the piano for our group, and we performed at a different church every Sunday. One of the leaders who traveled with us had a saying, “Flexibility is the key to ministry.” If she said it once, she said it a thousand times. She desperately wanted us to understand that leaders must stay flexible with changing times, people, and situations. With decades of ministry behind her, she knew all too well that life has a way of changing when you least expect it.
I understood this concept in a small way in college, but over a decade in ministry has helped me to clearly understand what she was trying to teach us. The best leaders are the ones who can adapt and change to the people, times, culture, and ideas around them. They don’t hang on to the past, unable to change and adapt and move into the future.
Allowing God to Redirect Us
Sometimes God completely redirects us. Maybe it’s a career change, a move, a new relationship, a loss, a painful experience, or something else completely. God has a habit of shaking things up in our lives when we least expect it. If you would have asked me a year ago to foresee some of the changes God took our family through last year, I would have been shocked. I had no idea that the bottom would fall out for us both in our ministry and in our personal lives. I had no idea we would go for months on end without getting paid, endure depression and discouragement like we never had before, face the pain of potentially walking away from the church we started seven years ago, and having to sell our home and move.
Holding Loosely to My Plans
I have learned over the past several years that the best way for me to succeed in life is to find what it is that God wants me to do and follow it wholeheartedly. View the talents and abilities, dreams and desires He has given me as a compass to point me towards what He wants me to accomplish. The struggles of this past year taught me that I also have to hold on to those plans and dreams with a loose hand and allow God to change my direction and plans at any time because He will do that when we least expect it!
King Solomon teaches us this principle in Proverbs. Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” (KJV) The Message paraphrases it this way, “We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.” (MSG)
Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” (KJV) The Message paraphrases it this way, “We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.” (MSG)
3 Ways to Stay Flexible and Allow for Change
How can we accomplish our goals and dreams and yet be flexible enough for God to be able to move or redirect us?
- Keep a tender heart. Keep a clean heart and conscience before God. Forgive people who do you wrong. Don’t get a hard heart with people or situations that disappoint you. God may be allowing those painful situations in your life to move you in a different direction. If Matt and I hadn’t battled every day to keep a tender heart, we would have walked away from ministry this past year.
- Develop a consistent morning time routine. Spend time every morning praying, reading the Bible, and journaling. We can’t expect God to direct us if we aren’t spending time with Him. He will use His Word and time in prayer to show us and direct us into what He has for us. My morning time was a lifeline for me this past year. If I hadn’t spent years developing the habit of reading my Bible every morning, journaling, and praying, I would have given up. If you would like some ideas for developing a consistent morning time, read my best tips for an effective morning time.
- Continue growing and learning. Spend time reading good books, listening to podcasts, and growing. So many times a podcast I listened to or a book I read helped me to stay faithful, keep moving forward, and make the changes I needed to. It is so much easier for God to redirect us and change us when we are in the habit of growing and learning. If you need book or podcast suggestions, here are a few of my favorites.
Staying Flexible and Be Ready for Change
If we keep a tender heart, spend each morning connecting with God, and allow God to change our thinking by reading good books and listening to good podcasts, we are as ready as we can be for God to interrupt our life and send us in a new direction. Don’t hold so tightly to your ideas, your plans, or your dreams that you can’t let God redirect you and point you in the new direction He wants you to go.
