“God I don’t know what it will look like, but I think I am okay with letting You choose the direction of my life instead of me.  I guess I am trying to say that I accept Your plan for my life.”

It wasn’t the most graceful of prayers.  It wasn’t all that bold.  I had already made the decision to trust in Jesus Christ, but this was a decision to follow Him.  I remember at the time thinking, “What am I getting myself into?”  I wondered if this meant I would have to go live in Africa.  Or if I was going to have to wear a suit and stand on a street corner telling people about their sin.  Deep down I didn’t expect much to change.  I wasn’t sure if God would actually take me at my word, but I hoped he would.

Looking back, this was a turning point in my life.  It didn’t happen all at once, but slowly God’s plan for the next 15 years of my life began to unfold.  At the time I was a junior in high school.  I was in South Texas on a Mission Discovery trip.  The week had taken an interesting turn when, after a few days of ignoring what was happening around us, my friends and I began to pay attention to what God was doing in our lives.  We didn’t hear the loud voice from the sky or have a burning bush redirect our path.  We each got a sense that we were missing something and we made a conscious decision to pay attention.  Once that decision was made other things began to come into focus.  A child that I hadn’t noticed, now, was at our house site wanting to play soccer.  Things being said at the nightly meeting began to actually mean something to me.  God was using the people and situations around me to tell me something.

What I remember most from that week is that one day I was fine just hanging out with my friends and not every concerned with why I was on a mission trip and the next day my eyes had been opened to a little more of what God was doing in my life.  By the end of the week I knew that something had changed.  I knew that I had changed, and I honored that change with a decision.  That is when I prayed the awkward prayer.  That was when I told God I wanted His plan for my life more than any plan I could come up with.

It doesn’t have to be a big life altering change.  It starts with paying attention, being sensitive to how God is working in your life, and believing that nay day could be a turning point.

Try this: Ask God to help you today.  Ask Him to open your eyes.  Pray that He would show you how He is working in your life.  Believe that His plan is greater than anything you could ask or imagine.

Day 4 of 4 from 2013 Mission Discovery Devotional