God’s Agenda by Lisa Burkhardt Worley

            In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

            I have learned a lot after spending a year in full-time ministry, but one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to be flexible.  I’m a girl who likes a plan, but when you allow God to lead ministry trips, what you have scheduled on paper isn’t always what happens.  In fact, the Pearl girls have learned to build in “flex time” in case we come across someone who needs a little more attention and some loving words.

            This Saturday we are speaking at a women’s conference in San Antonio.  The plan was to go down Friday and come back Sunday, but yesterday I received an unexpected phone call.  I learned the mother of one of my San Antonio friends passed away and the funeral is Sunday afternoon. We were leaving to come back to DFW late Sunday morning. While she was my friend’s mother, she was also my friend as well. I adored her and the traveling Pearl girls met her the last time we were in San Antonio. The call happened to come in while we were having a Pearls meeting.  I looked at the Pearl girls; they looked at me and I knew what they were thinking. Even though it meant a change in schedule, we all agreed we should stay in San Antonio an extra day so we could attend the service.

            Because of the shift in the agenda, a lunch we originally planned to have with some ladies in San Antonio after church on Sunday, was now back on, and we had another night to minister to a dear friend going through a divorce. That same friend graciously opens her home up to us every time we are in town. She was excited to hear we were staying one more day.  But what about our weekly Monday meeting?  We needed to meet because in another week we leave on an eleven day ministry trip to Arkansas and Tennessee.  There was still a lot to go over.

            That’s when we remembered Viva Bookstore.  The beautiful manager there, Carla, told us to consider Viva, a local San Antonio Christian book store, our office away from home and to use it whenever we need a place to meet. We had not taken her up on that offer but we needed to call in the favor.

            When we called Viva, Carla was not there, but the gentleman who answered the phone knew who we were and had been told that if we ever called the store, that he was supposed to offer us a place to work. They meant what they said and the Lord provided the temporary office space we needed!

            When you give your days and schedule over to God, you have to be prepared to mark through or erase the plans you have. If He changes things up, He will provide what you need to accommodate the change. When your schedule is turned upside down, do you get angry or do you accept the change as God’s will?

            I’m sure at the end of this ministry trip we’ll look back and say, “I know why that happened.  I understand now why the Lord had us stay one more day.”

            It’s all about trusting God with your time and allowing Him to control your agenda because He sees what’s ahead and there’s generally a blessing waiting for you when you let Him lead.