God's Will For My Life

Not with eyeservice, as men pleasers,

but as the servants of Christ, doing

the will of God from the heart.

Ephesians 6:6

All through my teenage years and even into my 20's, there was a strong emphasis of God's will for my life (and for others my age who happened to be present for some of the same preaching I was getting). No matter the church service, youth conference, or where there was a gathering of Christian youth, that subject would always come up. It didn't happen with every sermon but with enough of them to become bored with the subject. Then all of a sudden, around the age of 25, the subject dried up. I guess at the age of 25, a persons life choices seemed to be set in concrete with no more a necessity to approach the subject of God's will for one's life.

If one were to go to a gathering of Christian senior saints and the guest speaker preach on God's will for one's life, most might think the man had something wrong with his sense of timing. After all, can't he see the over abundance of gray hair and balding heads before him?

A few months ago, a very brave lady came to me asking about coming into my Sunday school class. She had been in the other ladies class, that is a wonderful class. She knew she would be making a really big change with leaving a class full of dear friends who had been classmates for a very long time. My guess would be that this dear lady is in her 80's but I'm not sure. In my mind, I'm thinking “Why now after so many years?” This usually isn't the time in ones life to make a major decision like that one. I did what I usually do...I tried to talk her into staying in her regular class. This is usually a pretty good test. She was determined and quickly let me know that she felt it was God's will to make the move. She wasn't mad at anyone in her class, but just felt God's leading in this particular direction. When anyone gives me that kind of reply, I never question them further.

I think we Christians age 30 and above very often get locked into activities and service opportunities we feel we are doing for the Lord when we are really doing some of those things for our own personal satisfaction. I'm convinced that many Christians get bogged down in church activities without ever seeking the will of God regarding their areas of service. How much better for us if we are actively involved in one spiritual activity that is God's will rather than serving in five or six activities that aren't.

For years I've seen church members who are frustrated even to the point of becoming problem people in their congregation. They often are big name people in the church who have their fingers in every area of church life. It's so easy for this to happen. Subconsciously, I think we believe it convinces other folks what good Christians we are. Some may think that but in it all, there is only one opinion that counts...Gods.

Several years ago, I had a job with a Christian agency that I dearly loved. I began to get restless, unsettled as if God were “rustling my nest.” I couldn't figure it out. It was a good work and why shouldn't I stick with it, but the restlessness continued. My boss was shocked when I resigned giving a two week notice. I had no prospect for a job, but knew if God were leading, He would provide and He did just that. I was doing a good work but it wasn't what God wanted me to continue doing. I left, found a good job and in a couple of months met Brian and within months and within months of that, we were married. God has His plan for us no matter our age or stage of life and although we might be serving God in a good way, it isn't good if it isn't God's will.

My big point is that no matter our age, God can tap us on the shoulder to get our attention in order to present a new plan to us. For people over the age of 60, the normal reaction is to say, “I'm too old for this big change in my life right now.” God's personal will for us has no age consideration. God would never lead us in a direction that would be impossible for us to do for Him. He knows, despite age, health concerns, etc, what we are capable of doing for Him.

Several years ago when I became a nursery director, I found myself supervising children who were birth through three year olds. I started out with a staff of 72 ladies. One of the first things I needed to do was to try to acquaint myself with the nursery staff. One lady stood out to me. She was in her 60's and was proud to let me know that she had worked with the toddlers for about 30 years. She also let me know that her job in the nursery was God's will for her life and He had never led her to do anything else. I got the impressions that she was serving me notice that she was there for life. I gave each nursery staff lady a sheet with questions regarding the nursery ministry just wanting to get everyone's input for new ideas and suggestions. Consistently, ladies reported regarding this one lady in the toddlers that she was mean to the children, wouldn't change diapers, wouldn't even pick up the little ones to love on them, yelled at the children as well as at the ladies she worked with. I guess this had been going on for quite awhile.

I made an appointment with the lady. We had friendly conversation and then I began to probe. I had questions for her such as: “How is your health?” along with some other personal questions. I learned that she had chronic back problems. She lived in constant pain. She said she couldn't even carry a bag of groceries from the car into her house. She suffered from migraine headaches, never knowing when one would strike. I offered her another position where she wouldn't have to pick up children, where she could do her share of the work but she didn't want to make the move. She gave me no choice but to remove her from the nursery work. What bothered me about this was that she should have gone to the previous nursery director and resigned ten years prior to my time with her. She forced me into an impossible position, that of removing her from ministry. She was a risk in so many ways around the children and it couldn't continue. It didn't mean that there wasn't anything else she could have done. She ended up totally dropping out of church...what a shame.

Believe me, I'm not saying that everyone should resign their church responsibilities. I do think we should be very real about who we are and where we are in life. Health issues often play a huge part in what we are capable of doing. Family responsibilities change that demands we change with them. We need to give serious thought and prayer as to what God wants of us in serving Him. I have seen folks, good people who in their 50's on up, decide to give up everything they've been doing for the Lord to “let the young folks do it now.” WRONG...the wisdom of senior saints is needed in church life. The youth, enthusiasm and energy of the young are needed just as much. The key is for each person seeking God's will for their life no matter the stage of life they find themselves in. He has something for each of His children to do in this wonderful Kingdom work of His.

Lord Jesus, thank You for every ability and gift You've implanted in me to use for Your service. Help me to always seek Your will with regard to every opportunity for service presented to me. I want to be doing what You want me to do, not what a nominating committee things would be a good opportunity for me. Grant me Your wisdom in the choices of service I make and then continue guiding and directing me as I serve You the best I can. I love you. Amen