Letting God Have His Way

Someone may have recently encouraged you to follow your dream. You had shared some of your goals with them, and they knew you were struggling to make progress. They didn’t want to see you give up, and you sure didn’t want them to think of you as a loser; so you hunkered down and pressed on. Perhaps another voice was calling you to a different response.

Consider this testimony from Judson W. Van DeVenter:

For many years I had been studying art. My whole life was wrapped up in its pursuit and the thing farthest from my mind was active Christian service. My dream was to become an outstanding and famous artist. After graduating from college, I studied drawing and painting under a well-known German teacher. To help me financially, I taught school and eventually I became supervisor of art in the public schools of Sharon, Pennsylvania.

It was during this period in my life that a revival was held in the First Methodist Church of which I was a member. I became very interested in these meetings as a personal worker. The Spirit of God was urging me to give up teaching and to enter the evangelistic field, but I would not yield. I still had a burning desire to be an artist. This battle raged for five years. At last the time came when I could hold out no longer and I surrendered my all—my time and my talents. It was then that a new day was ushered into my life. I wrote "I Surrender All" in memory of the time when, after the long struggle, I had surrendered and dedicated my life to active Christian service for the Lord.

Sometimes God calls people to give up their dreams because God's plan for the world is bigger than anything they can imagine. Mary and Joseph had plans, but when God announced a new course for their lives they responded with faithful obedience.

May God give you the strength and the courage to respond to his call to join him in the work he is doing, so that all people may come to know of his faithful love.