31 Days: The Secret

"So long as you hold on to even a little hope of achieving something by your own powers, the Lord does not interfere. It is as though he says: 'You hope to suceed by yourself--Very well, go on trying! But however long you try you will achieve nothing.' May the Lord give you a contrite spirit, a humble and a contrite heart."
-From The Art of Prayer

Even as a little girl in Ft. Lauderdale I was involved in church plants. In 2005 I began attending a church plant not too far from home. One of the earliest sermons I heard from the pastor was on the vision of the church to plant more churches. During that service God compelled me to be involved in future church planting. From that moment on I was hooked.

Fast forward to 2011 where I’m currently working in the national church planting office of an organization that plants churches domestically and abroad. Just over two years ago my husband and I moved to Downtown Orlando to plant a church. So everything is going just swimmingly and I’m exactly where I wanted to be in my church planting adventure, right?

Wrong. Almost nothing is going as I had planned. Two years later we’re nowhere near where I wanted to be. And nothing, not even our ministry, looks the way it I wanted it to. I could consider this a story of defeat and failure but I don’t. God has shown me that he’s knows exactly what he’s doing even though I don’t. The connections and relationships we have could never have happened in our own strength. The experiences we’re having now will prepare us for all the rest of life.

So what does this have to do with intentional living? Everything! You see the secret to success in intentional living is that YOU CAN’T DO IT ON YOUR OWN! God is the secret ingredient. He knows the plan and what’s going to happen. We don’t. One of my biggest struggles is the desire to do everything in my own strength. But when I go that route I always fail. When I stop trying to be in control God does his thing and amazing doors start opening.

Maybe God wants us to plant a stereotypical church (does this even exist?) in Downtown Orlando. Or maybe he wants us to have a small group of cigar smokers who fall in love with the Gospel. Perhaps he wants us to minister to homeless or partner with another local church plant. I really have no idea. But I know he has a plan. And that my friends, is the secret to intentional living.