When God Has a Different Objective

thanks, Flickr

The day began just like any other day. My husband left before the break of dawn to go to the hospital for his residency program. I got up not too much later and began to get ready for school. I was in seminary. It was the first day of summer semester. 


I had chosen to take a two-week course in Second Corinthians. How difficult could a thirteen chapter book be, right? Easy peasy. I walked in the classroom, sat down, and prepared to listen to my simple objectives for this two week course. Two weeks, thirteen chapters. Surely, we will just write a paper and be done. Unfortunately, the British-accented professor had a different plan.

And fortunately for my life course, God did, too.

So, the professor began his objective list for the course. I began taking notes. This is what he said:
At the end of this course on Second Corinthians, I would like for you to:

• Be less sure of yourself. 
• Understand that things go wrong in ministry, regardless.
• Develop a theology of weakness, not power.
• Realize we all have and will have pain and suffering in our lives.

Whoa. Wait a minute. 

I am here for information, not transformation. I do not have time for that! 

Seriously. I needed this two-week course to be simple and easy. Those objectives were not simple and they sure weren't easy. I contemplated dropping the course, but really needed the hours. So, I decided to stay. The rest of that day in the summer of 1998 only emphasized my need for transformation. 

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.  Romans 12: 2

Many times in life when we think we know what the goal is for something we are doing, God has a very different objective in mind. 

I will tell you the rest of the story on Thursday of this week. Stay tuned. :)

For now, I would love to hear how God has or is transforming you. Have you ever walked into something thinking that it was for one reason, and God used it to knock your socks off? I would love to hear. And promise me you'll be back on Thursday. Reading by email? Comment here.


Living for ONE,


Kelli


p.s. For all of you that watched my recent video blog, thank you. Your encouragement has been overwhelming. You are such a blessing!


today I link with my SDG girlfriends over at Finding Heaven, and Laura over at the Wellspring. Visit their sites for some awesome blog posts.