The Road You Didn’t Expect

I’ve learned that the road God gives us isn’t always the road we thought we’d travel.

There have been times in my life when I was certain where I was going and what God wanted me to do. I had plans, hopes, and expectations for the future. Some of those things came to pass. Others didn’t turn out anything like I imagined.

I spent years in ministry, believing that was where I would spend the rest of my life. But there came a time when I knew God was asking me to lay it down. I didn’t stop loving Him, and I didn’t believe He had taken away my calling. I simply knew it was time to walk a different road.

That road led me into places I never expected. There were struggles, disappointments, and years when I couldn’t see what God was doing. Yet there were also blessings I might never have experienced had everything gone according to my plans.

Looking back, I can see that God was present through all of it. Not just in the years when I was preaching or serving in ministry, but in the ordinary years that followed. In my work, my family, my struggles, and even in the times when I wondered what came next.

I think sometimes we become so focused on where we believe God is taking us that we forget He is with us wherever we are.

I still don’t know where every turn in this road will lead. But I know more now than I did when I first started walking it.

The road may change. God doesn’t.

And wherever this road takes me next, I know He will be there.