God Has a Plan for Your Life

I majored in pre-medicine in undergraduate school. I took a lot of science and math courses and applied to medical school in the height of the Vietnam War. I didn’t get accepted. I went back to Methodist College and finished a double major. Again, I applied to medical school. Once more, I wasn’t accepted. In my despair, my pastor told me one day that God wanted me to be a preacher.  I thought he was crazy, but one night, I asked God what He wanted for me, and within weeks, I was accepted at Duke Seminary. God had a plan for me all along. I had to listen and accept it!

Paul sought to bring the gospel into Bithynia, but Acts 16:6-7 tells us the spirit of Jesus stopped him. It had to seem strange that Jesus would disrupt plans that seemed to be in line with God’s mission. The reason came to Paul in a dream one night. Macedonia needed Paul more, and it was in Macedonia that Paul planted the first church in Europe. Proverbs 19:21 makes a lot of sense here. “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

What is God’s plan for your life? Have you asked Him? Tangier Island is a little piece of land in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. Today, only about 800 people live there, but over the years, more than 30 preachers have come from that piece of land to serve in the United Methodist Church. It’s okay to plan, but God may disrupt our plans with His own. We are called to listen and trust God.

Proverbs 19:21 – “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

By the Rev. Tommy Herndon
Image: Tricia Louque