“The mind of man plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

I’ve often thought that just as He did with Abraham, God has brought me to points where He asks me, will you continue to follow Me, and believe my promises, even when you realize it might cost you everything?

I was 26? Years old at the time- when I was asked if I would be willing to join the team that was moving to Champaign-Urbana, IL. where we were believing God to start up a new church. Of course I felt honored and excited. But almost immediately I wondered what that would mean for me in the area of marriage. I was single at the time and getting older- I had expected that God would have had me married long before then. 

I began to realize  that for different reasons there was no match for me on that team. It occurred to me that God might be trying to tell me that He wanted me to remain single. Everything inside me screamed out, “No, God!! Anything but that!! Please don’t ask that of me!” I canceled all my appointments, took my Bible and songbook and headed out to a very lonely place to be alone with God. I wanted to give Him my whole life - my whole heart. I wanted to spend a life living for the sake of the Gospel and walking closely to my God. But this step, moving away with a small team of people, seemed more than I could bear. I poured out my heart, crying even sobbing before the Lord. And the only verses I was finding seemed to ask me - do you believe the promises written for you? Do you believe that God is good and does good? Will you yield to HIm even though it appears to be more than you can bear? It took most of the day before I could completely yield to Him- to come to the point at which I wanted God more than I wanted my own hopes and dreams. It took all that time for me to finally tell Him that I truly wanted His will to be done and not my own. I left that lonely spot with a heart full of peace and faith that I had a Father who loves me deeply and who keeps His promises. All my hope was set in Him and no longer in getting married.

I went on that team and it was a time of seeing God accomplishing great things and wondrously working in all of us and through all of us. We saw many come to the Lord and dedicate their whole lives to Him. Looking back on my life I would venture to say it was a highlight season for me in my walk with God.

In addition, the last thing I ever expected was to see God draw Daniel’s and my life together and within a year to be married to him. (That is a long story in itself.) But it was not until after I could wholeheartedly choose to believe that God’s thoughts and ways are far above my own. It was in that time that I learned what it meant to have God alone sitting on the throne of my heart. And in that time I began learning the joys of knowing my God as a Promisekeeper.