My Story – Part 21627http://amarkedchange.com/2009/11/09/my-story-part-2/My+Story+-+Part+22009-11-09+17%3A18%3A53Wes+Howard

September 1st was a date that was looming and was scary. It was 1 week away and I was clueless on what my life would look like on that date.

My pursuit of a job in ministry had given me the opportunity to interview with several places and each time God taught me something different about rejection. That was all and good, but it was time to pay rent. A rent that I didn’t have.

The week before September 1st, everything seemed to happen at once:

- A roommate had decided to move out and we couldn’t find a replacement. If we couldn’t find someone, our rent would go up significantly until we did.
- I was up for a ministry job in Austin, TX. and I hadn’t heard yet on what the final decision was.
- I had felt a calling to start a community group at my church. Should I start a group not having a job or not knowing if I would even be in Nashville? How can I lead a group on a journey with Christ when I can’t even pay rent?
- I had run out of money.

I remember being scared to death and feeling like a complete failure. What will my life look like next week? I had to come to a very important realization that I want to make sure is conveyed:

I had to expect God to come through, but not necessarily in the way I wanted him to. I knew that God would come through, but I had to accept that it might be that I would be homeless. That if everything came crashing down it was going to be for His glory. That what I perceive to be success isn’t what God defines success by. That realization was tough and humbling, but it allowed me to be ready for God was about to do.

Sunday morning was the day all the new groups were going to be announced and we would meet people to sign them up for our groups. I had to be there at 8:00AM. I decided that night before that things were just too “up in the air” for me to lead a group. I turned off my alarm. I admitted that I wasn’t in control, but I was going to act like it and not be a group leader.

I woke up at 7:00AM on the dot the next morning. I was going to be a community group leader after all.

The next day a guy contacted us that had seen our ad for a new roommate. He needed a place to live before September and came by to visit the place. He loved it. We had a new roommate for September.

The job in Austin, TX called me the next day to let me know that although they really enjoyed getting to know me, they decided to go with someone local. I wasn’t moving.

On Wednesday night I went to my community group that I was in but didn’t lead. At the end, someone stood up and said that the group had sensed I was struggling financially and they had pooled some money together. They hoped it could help with rent – it was the EXACT amount of my rent.

September 1st came and went. The day that was looming was just another day. God had come through in His way, not mine. I wasn’t a failure, I was a son of the Living God who was teaching me and molding me into His image. My plans were not His plans, His plans became my plans.

A week later, I got a random phone call from Jenni Catron at Cross Point asking me if I would come in and talk. She had a wild idea for an experiment…