No Plan B

I’m kind of over it. I’m not really interested in how far my talents and gifts can take me. I am grateful for them. I do sharpen them. I recognize that they are good gifts from the LORD. But I’m done depending on them being the vehicles that take me places. I’ve been serving in the same place since 2010, doing the same primary things that I was called to do. Is everything the same? Not at all. There have been huge shifts over the years. But here I am. Still singing. Still playing my guitar. Still teaching. Still writing things.

Is this it?

I’m not asking that question as if I’m somehow unsatisfied or discontent. I don’t have spiritual restless leg syndrome, where I can’t sit still in one place. No, in fact, as should be evidenced by my long tenure, the LORD has given me a grace that disposes me to longevity. I served in Colorado for thirteen years prior to our move to Missouri in 2010. I guess this is what I’m getting at.

Do I stay long because of the Spirit, or because I’ve found a niché where my gifts and talents are used?

When I was younger, I used to think about the LORD’s will in simple terms. It would get couched in familiar Christian idioms like open and shut doors. When God closes one door, He opens another. But as I’ve aged, I’ve found those idioms to be lacking. When I think back on how I would have spoken about open and closed doors, what it basically boiled down to was that open doors always made the path easier. Things would “just work.” Contrast that with closed doors. They would be marked by hardship and great difficulty. It wasn’t just me, either. I’ve heard masses of believers over the years describe open and closed doors in these kinds of terms.

I no longer believe that way. If the path is narrow, the gate is small, and the way to life is filled with opposition, then I suspect that open doors will have many obstacles in the path. Today, I’m more inclined to judge whether something is the LORD’s will by clarity, not ease. Can it be both? I suppose so, but increasingly I’m finding that clarity and ease don’t usually pair up. If ease comes, it arrives on the other side of an open door, not as I approach it.

So, back to the question. Is this it? Am I still called to do what I’ve been doing in the place I’ve been doing it for so long? The year 2025 has been a challenging year. The LORD has asked me to do hard things that He knew would humble me – which is probably why He asked me to do them. No other year has made me question my role in the Body of Christ more than this year, and there were some doozies before this one.

I won’t judge things by the difficulties I’ve encountered. When we walk with the LORD, hard things sharpen us. Nor will I judge it by how my gifts and talents are being used. I sing, I teach, and I write, regardless of my circumstances, because those things are life-giving gifts from the LORD. I would do those things anywhere.

I must rely completely on the Holy Spirit. What is He saying? How much clarity am I receiving from Him about my role and place in His Kingdom? We sing a song that says, “We won’t move without You.” We declare that again and again in that song. It is derived from Moses’ conversation with the LORD on Sinai.

“And he said to him, ‘If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.'” Exodus 33:15

The LORD had already wrought great signs and wonders through Moses. The LORD had already appointed Moses as Israel’s leader. Yet, Moses wasn’t leaning on any of that. His role and the gifts weren’t his basis for leading. He only wanted the LORD’s presence to lead him.

There is no plan B. Plan B would be a dependence on the gifts and roles that we’re given. Plan B would be leaning into my own understanding. I could easily reason that because the LORD has gifted me as a teacher and a worship leader, I should stay anywhere where I can use and sharpen those gifts. But that’s not depending on the Holy Spirit.

Dependence on the Holy Spirit is a daily friendship with Him. He will guide you as you read the Word. He will give you insight when you ask Him. He will make clear the path that will make you most like Jesus, not the path that seems to fit the best or has the least opposition.

There is no plan B. It’s the Holy Spirit leads me or bust.

Will you pray with me today that you and I would stop leading ourselves by the wrong measures and begin afresh a Spirit-led life?