God’s first choice may not be your first choice

God’s leading is not always abundantly clear for me. Sometimes I struggle to discern if it is His voice, or just myself. I delayed making this post for a while. I felt like I had just done this, just updated everyone, just accepted the idea that things were going to be different than I had planned, but here we are again. I’ve been lead to switch routes (this is the last time I will be able to defer) and defer to August 2021.

 

 

 

 

Reasons Why I’m Switching:

–          Peace

–          Opportunities

–          Obedience

 

 

 

 

The story of how I came to switch routes again starts in late September. I had just started a new work opportunity that I threw myself into and gave a smaller amount of time to World Race things than I probably should have. My advisor for the World Race was contacting me about certain things I had to do before training camp. I thought I had more time, but we quickly resolved that I had been working with the wrong dates and would need to complete all of these things (book flights, get supplies, get various tests done, meet a fundraising deadline, are among a few of the things) in roughly two weeks.

Around this time, I noticed a lot of doors closing. I had things pull me away from speaking engagements where I was going to present my world race and raise support, one of the only clinics that had the specific vaccination that I will need to get was temporarily closed (no reason was given, just temporarily closed), my car had a minor breakdown that required it to be in the shop and prohibited me from getting other things done that I needed to do, and many other little things just weren’t working.

 "One of the primary aspects of the Lord is that

 He is the Prince of Peace."

I started trying to figure out if these roadblocks were God closing doors, an attack of the enemy, or just my own lack of taking charge. I heard this little voice in the back of my head saying to leave in January, but there was so much confusion and chaos around it. Around this time a friend/mentor of mine told me about a vision he had where he kept hearing the phrase “make sure my people know my voice”.  I prayed and realized that one of the primary aspects of the Lord is that He is the Prince of Peace. If it’s His voice calling you to it, there’ll be peace.

That’s not to say that the Lord won’t call you to things that are bigger than you and sometimes scary, but He’s not a God of chaos, so when in doubt follow peace.

He already knows the people I will meet and where I will be most needed.

 

 

 

 

“Paul’s 4th choice was God’s first choice.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The whole situation reminds me of Paul. In Acts, we see that Paul was forbidden to speak the word in several places

“And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Acts 16:6-9 ESV

Paul’s 4^th choice of Macedonia was God’s first choice. God stopped Paul from entering many areas because God had a specific plan for him in Macedonia. Paul had to walk in obedience even though his first choice was to go somewhere else.

We all have times in our lives where we would prefer things to go a certain way. My preference would have been to be on the mission field as soon as possible, but I’m listening to the Spirit’s leading, following peace, and walking through this in obedience. I hope this encourages anyone reading, that God’s first choice for you may not be your first choice for yourself, but His choice will always be better than you ever could have imagined!