I had the privilege last week of sharing a message at a church. I was excited when I received the invitation and what the topic would be, ‘Go Red for Heart Health’. After prayer and some thought, I knew the angles I wanted to share from.
It would be both a practical health message, but with a spiritual heart message, anchored by Proverbs 4:23, the verse I used as my favorite when I was getting baptized over 25 years ago. The verse reads ‘Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it’.
I noticed that the live stream was already set up beforehand, so I shared with my family and friends who I knew would have wanted to attend, but wouldn’t be able to for various reasons.
When I was done ministering, I received a message that someone who had the link was unable to view it. Then another similar message. Later that evening, I checked the stream myself, it had cut off midway through the service and well before I started.
I was a bit disappointed. But, realized it wasn’t the end of the world.
This message was important from a health perspective, and likely one that I would not share again because it was shared based on the Go Red theme, which is once a year. And the likelihood of ever presenting it again was very slim.
Then, later the next day a thought came back to me. Some months ago, I had started thinking of starting a YouTube channel, different than my financial channel. This one was to share just Faith content and what God was teaching me.
I Googled the mechanics because while I’d had the thought, I’d never taken the next steps because I was waiting for God to tell me when. There was no sense of urgency at the time.
When I woke up Monday, I realized the time had come to execute the thought that had been laid on my heart months prior. I created the channel and recorded the message. I’d even had a name for the channel. I couldn’t believe the ease with which it came together.
Then, I realized I had another message. One that had been given to me during a hard season of my own life, but had never been shared online. I recorded that one too, a couple days later.
The lesson I learned through this is that sometimes God will disappoint you because He has a greater purpose for what He is calling you to do.
What I believed to be disappoint turned into a divine set up to push me into the next thing God is calling me to do.
Here are the two messages so far:
https://youtu.be/VpIYPBjcjm8?si=wC1AWG7ZRuWKHZzc
https://youtu.be/Fize13HaUdI?si=Ua0rtfbKICztIe7s
Dear Heavenly Father, would you allow us to see that not everything that does not happen for us in the way we thought is a disappointment? Would you show us that sometimes it is simply a set up for you to do the work that you have called us to do, and to exceed even what we may have thought possible. Give us eyes to see and a heart to trust you.