Lord, What Is Your Mission for Me?

I first heard the Lord calling me to share His love with others when I was in high school, but I just wasn’t sure what my mission was. I was, however, quite clear on what my mission was not: I was not going to marry a minister . . . because I’d turned away a seminary-bound boyfriend with that excuse earlier. I was never going to live in an “I” state, such as Illinois or Iowa . . . because the names sounded boring. And if I ever taught school (something I never honestly planned on doing), I was not going to teach middle school . . . because I was sure that students that age were worse than any “heathen” I’d read about in mission books.

My passion to serve drove me to pursue a degree in religion, and while at Andrews University, I fell in love with a man who had a similar passion. But he had chosen to be a minister. He also was the one God had chosen for me. When we talked of getting married, we wondered how we could financially stay afloat with both of us in college. We felt so blessed when the Lord confirmed our calling by having a conference president offer us a job—in Indiana.

And, if you are following the drift of my ramblings, you won’t be at all surprised what my first job out of college was. Those middle school students were not the people I had planned on ministering to, but they were the ones the Lord had chosen for me!

Looking back, I believe it was important for the Lord to teach me early on that
part of the Great Commission is submission. It is His work, not mine. It is His plan, not mine. It is His will, not mine. Each of us is like a piece in a giant jigsaw puzzle, that when completed, creates a mural of victory and peace—snapped together when all His children are finally home. I may think that I know where He needs me in this puzzle, but only He can pick me up and place me where the unique configuration of my life will fit together perfectly with the needs of another. Only He can see the box lid to the puzzle, where the final panorama is clearly displayed.

He says, “ ‘I know the plans I have for you . . . plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’ ” (Jer. 29:11, NIV).

What greater plan than the Great Commission? What greater hope than the blessed hope?

Kandace Zollman, Smithsburg, Maryland, U.S.A.



People can make all kinds of plans, but only the Lord's plan will happen. Proverbs 19:21 (New Century Version)