What if God’s Answer Isn’t What I Expect – Part 2

They all stood in a row. Jesse’s handsome sons, from oldest to youngest. Well, not quite. The youngest was absent: tending the sheep.

Word had it that the prophet was to choose a new king, and he had specifically requested to meet with Jesse’s sons. But someone had to stay with the sheep, and the youngest was far to young to be chosen.

The other brothers were far better equipped, capable and more experienced. Yes, any one of them would make a good king.

But God passed them by, and requested the youngest son. David knew little about battle strategies, or managing finances, or about many other realities of life, but he knew God, and that was what God wanted in a king.

God’s ways are not our ways.

Think back to your youth.

Did you think you knew what God wanted to do with your life?

Did you feel God calling you to service in a particular field?

Did you find that at some point, you were forced to take a detour, and that vision for your future died?

Many times in the Bible, you can see where God’s ways were beyond what we could imagine. Consider Abraham, asked to sacrifice his promised son. Or David, chosen to be king, but fleeing for his life. Even Paul, the persecutor who became persecuted.

A group of sheep grazing in a verdant field with a scenic rural backdrop.

As a very young child, I thought I was to become a missionary to China, and began learning the language in preparation. But as I grew older, I began to dream of marriage, and hoped that, perhaps in addition to being a missionary, God would use my husband and me to minister to struggling families, displaying for them God’s beautiful plan for marriage and family.

However, as my marriage progressed from bad to worse to dangerous, those visions began to shrivel to nothing, and when I had to escape, they died. There was no more marriage. Our home was splintered. Everything I had prayed so hard for lay at my feet in ashes. The dreams I’d had of administering hope to the people around me, pointing others to my King, had evaporated. I was shattered and broken. A muddy potsherd of no worth to anyone.

Discarded stack of broken ceramics and glassware in Gent, showcasing waste and recycling.

I looked around and found more muddy potsherds in the ashes. “I am broken, and I’m not much good to anyone, but perhaps, broken as I am, I can still help other broken people find Hope at the foot of the cross,” I thought to myself

Sure enough.

As it turns out, broken potsherds often find themselves thrown together, and somehow it isn’t as intimidating or shameful to seek comfort and support from other broken potsherds, so together, we helped one another, broken as we were, to the foot of the cross where we began to find hope and healing.

 

Then, one day, God nudged me to start writing my story.

“Why me, God? Why should I write my story? Others have lived this same nightmare and have written their stories. What do I have to add that they haven’t already written?”

The answer wasn’t forth-coming, so I continued on my way. Occasionally, I’d recall God’s little nudge to write my story, and start a chapter, but every effort seemed to hit a concrete wall.

Finally, one day, I asked, “Lord, if You want me to write my story, who are You wanting me to write to?”

 Instantly, I knew the answer. Women in abusive relationships who have just recognized it, or women who have just left abusive relationships.

“Okay, Lord. So what do You want me to tell them that they haven’t already heard a thousand times?”

“I want them to know My heart for them, how much I love them, and how I good I am to them in all they have to go through. I want them to know that I am always with them, and can be relied upon to provide for their needs, that my promises cannot remain unfulfilled, no matter how broken their situation.”

“But there must be at least a hundred other books written about this,” I countered. “What do You want me to add?”

He seemed to go silent at that point, but then one day, through a friend, He gave me the answer: He is so great and so good that it takes the voice of everyone of His children to declare all His goodness; to put on display for all to see, the beauty of Who He is.”

And so I began to write my book. And as He gave me the words, understanding began to blossom in my heart. The vision He had given me of pointing others to Jesus by my example was actually coming to reality: it was not coming from a place of healthy and beautiful like I had envisioned, but from a place of feeling broken and dirty, like the women He was calling me to reach. He knew that I would never be able to minister to their shattered existence, unless I had been shattered myself. He knew that I would never know the depths of His heart for them, if I hadn’t first experienced the depths of His heart for myself.

In a way far better than I could have imagined, He prepared me for my ministry through heart-breaking experience, just as He prepared David for the kingdom through tending sheep.

How can you see God’s hand at work in the detours of your life?

Are there visions of service for the Lord that you have had to bury?

Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear about those visions, even the ones you’ve had to bury. Abraham believed that God could raise his promised son from the dead, and I, too, believe that God will resurrect that calling on your life in better, more effective ways than you or I could imagine.

cross, field, grass, landscape, nature, germany, bavaria, meadow, fog, dusk, cross, cross, cross, cross, cross
May 9, 2025

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