Setbacks

I'm a planner.  I love setting goals and timelines to reach those goals.  When stuff doesn't go as planned, I can get frustrated and discouraged.  For example, we are about to launch two services on October 9th.  Everything was coming together for our launch and the opening of our new cafe'.  We've got the timeline and plans in place, except we didn't expect a hurricane.  It hit everyone and hard.  We weren't the only ones sucking up water from the basement of our church.  It was an unexpected setback that had the potential to throw us off course and get us down and discouraged.  I have to admit, there was a moment where I was about to just throw in the towel.  As quickly as that moment, came and went, I remembered that we serve a God who knows how to work all things together for good. 

Through a series of setbacks recently, God was able to bring me to a place where I totally needed to trust Him.  You see, sometimes God allows things to happen so we can stop relying upon ourselves and our own strength and learn to depend on His strength.  I'm sure all of us at one time or another experienced a setback of some kind which caused us to get discouraged.  I know I'm not the only one.  When things don't go as we plan, we all have the tendency to "cop out" or "give up."  That's not how God wants us to respond to setbacks.  You see, God is the God of the mountain and He is the God of the valley.  Setbacks are no surprise to Him. 

Think of Nehemiah.  He was given a vision to rebuild the wall.  Halfway through it, He experienced a setback.  The enemy came to attack, the people become tired and discouraged.  So what did Nehemiah do?  First, he prayed that God would frustrate the plan of the enemy.  Secondly, he encouraged the people to fight for the vision.  Thirdly, he changed his approach.  You see, instead of having everyone work together to build the wall, he only put half the people to build the wall and the other half to stand guard and watch.  God was able to use the setback to redirect Nehemiah into a strategy that would be more efficient and effective. 

That's exactly what I feel God has done through these setbacks.  God has redirected us to now hold Life Groups in homes.  He as redirected us to pray.  He has redirected us to all work together towards a common goal and raise the finances we need to complete our renovations.  It's incredible to see how people respond when they are redirected through a setback.  Some don't understand, and complain.  Others just kind of lay low.  Others see the vision and pursue it with passion and excitement and that's where we are today at Trinity Church. 

I don't know what kind of setback you have recently experienced, but let me encourage you not to give up.  Don't get discouraged.  Adapt to what God is asking you to do.  Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.  It may not be exactly as you have planned, but perhaps that's exactly why you have experienced a setback.  So God can redirect you to do something different that will produce more results and be more effective. 

We are about to move into a new home.  Why?  Because of a setback.  We were stuck at the place we were staying, but God used a setback to move us into where He wanted us to be.  We would not have discovered the place we did, if it wasn't for a setback.  Don't despise setbacks.  They can actually be stepping stones for you to move into exactly what God has for you.