When Things Don't Go the Way You Expectనమూనా

God Hasn't Forgotten

The years that I worked at the university were hard on me. I had been in the ministry full-time for years, but at the university I had to go back to work as a writer, punching a clock and writing on demand 40 hours a week. Writing is what I had done before I went into ministry -- going back to it didn’t feel like I was moving forward. It felt like a demotion, not a promotion!

Going backward can mess with your mind. It certainly wasn’t what I expected for that season of my life. It didn’t seem like the answer I had prayed for. It seemed that I had been forgotten, left behind. While all my ministry friends continued to preach, travel, lead churches, and change lives, I was stuck behind a desk again.

I call those four years “the cubicle years.” I enjoyed the people I worked with, and my children greatly benefited from my time there by getting an almost free college education, but it was hard. I had to constantly keep my eyes on God’s Word to keep from getting discouraged.

Based on Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 11:29, I made this confession every day: “Father I know you haven’t forgotten about me or changed your mind about me for one moment. I will fulfill your plan for my life.” I worked hard and stayed faithful in my church and at the university, and in the end, God came through with my dream job teaching at the Bible school.

Even though sometimes things don’t look like you expect them to look, it doesn’t mean nothing is happening. God is always working when you trust Him.

Like me, things might not be going the way you expected them to. Can you trust Him? He still has a good plan and purpose for you. But if you quit, you will never find out what it is. If you camp out in the land of disappointment and heartbreak, you’ll never get to your promised land.

My best advice is to keep going. Your life may look different than you expected but don’t spend all your time looking back. Look forward. Be led by the Spirit, move when He says move, stay when He says stay and be faithful and obedient. He hasn’t forgotten His plan for you!