If God has called you to it, he will make a way to it, right? If it’s God’s will for you, then it will come to you, right? Impossible will be made possible. You’ll just step into it. It will just happen. You’ll see God’s miraculous works unfold right before your eyes when you’re standing in the right place at the right time.

Yip, that’s what I thought. I thought following God’s will would almost be easy. You see, I thought the whole impossible being made possible would feel magical in a way. I thought I would just show up and things would start happening. So, when I showed up in faith and nothing happened, I was sorely disappointed. When I worked and worked and everything I had was still measuring up short, I was deeply confused. Failure isn’t what I had signed up for. Struggle wasn’t my choice on the menu of faith. But it’s what I got.

So, where did I go wrong?

Just in case you’re struggling, I want to share a personally hard fought hallelujah with you. It’s one I would have never chosen for myself, but it was the one that most humbled me, then strengthened me.

Following God’s plan for your life will cost you something. Stepping into God’s purposes will require more of you than a little sacrifice … it will require all of you. It will take all you have, then more. And there will be times where disappointment threatens to stall you. You need to know that so you can keep going. Yes, God is calling you to something. Yes, he is leading you somewhere. Yes, he has a purpose in all of this. And NO, my friend, it won’t be easy.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:14, “The gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” He wasn’t kidding.

The first time I knew God was really calling me was in the middle of my successful years. My husband and I had worked hard to build a business in Dallas, then we felt a prompting to move to El Paso, Texas to help start a church. My husband was reluctant. He knew how hard starting over would be. I was excited. Excited because of new adventures. Excited because I thought the palm trees in the pictures meant tropical instead of desert. Excited because I thought obediently following God would bring more success.

God rewards faithfulness, right? If I’m being honest, I liked the thought of being rewarded by God. I failed to read about the narrow difficult road that would be required.

We moved to El Paso to help build that church while rebuilding our relocated business. The building of that church was a disaster. The only bigger disaster was the rebuilding of our business. We struggled. HARD.

There was no money and no future prospects of that changing. This was not what I had signed up for. This is not what I thought following God would look like. I naively thought if following God required you to give up something, he would almost instantly repay you with double. Well, that ends up to NOT be the way it works.

A faithful God who loves me wildly watched me struggle. He watched me fail. He watched me hit my knees at a rock bottom and surrender in sheer disappointment. And he took all that brokenness and he rebuilt me in ways I didn’t sign up for. I had been cheap with my sacrifices. I had been selfish with my offerings. I was willing to follow God’s calling, but there needed to be something good in it for me.

It ends up God didn’t bring me to El Paso, Texas back then to build a church … he didn’t call me there to rebuild a business … he brought me to the desert to do a humbling work in me. He began showing me a faith that wouldn’t be easy. A sacrifice that would hurt. A life of obedience that would cost me something. A narrow difficult road that would lead to life.

Have you naively assumed following God will be easy? Have you thought walking in his purposes would always feel good? Have you believed some ‘name it and claim it’ teaching that tells you earthly rewards will immediately follow every obedient step? Well, are you disappointed yet?

I was. But I’m not any more.

Now, I see the work God was doing in the struggle and I see it simply couldn’t have been any other way. I see the preparation God was taking me through, and though it was painful, it was for greater purposes. Yes, we lost a lot in the process, and now I wouldn’t want any of it back! I no longer crave that easy path.

So, it ends up, God knows precisely what he is doing afterall! How about that? The God how created this whole universe and holds it all in the palm of his hand actually does know what he’s doing. He can be trusted. His ways are good, even when they don’t feel good.

Has God been calling you to something? Has he been prompting you with a deeper purpose? Let me save you some disappointment and tell you upfront, THIS WILL NOT BE EASY. It’s not supposed to be easy. It probably won’t work the way you thought it would. In fact, it will take far longer than you imagine and be more work than you think you’re capable of. Good … that’s God stuff!

Yes, go ahead and sign up for that. Sign up for what you can’t control and what you don’t have a perfect plan for. Sign up for being in over your head where God is the only answer. Sign up for it, then be ready to show up every darn day, whether you feel like it or not.

King David was told by God in 2 Samuel 24 to build an alter to the Lord on a very specific piece of property that didn’t belong to him. When David went to the owner of the property to obtain the land, the owner offered to just give it to David for free. Here David, you can have the land. Just take it. It will be easy. But David replies in verse 24, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.”

I insist on paying for this. I insist on showing up and doing the work. I’m no longer seeking the things that cost me nothing.

As I read this, I heard the Spirit of God say, “Stop looking for the cheapest and easiest way to please me.”

Your sacrifice for God will cost you. Pleasing God requires something from you. It requires your best. It requires your true sacrifice. It requires your work.

Have you been trying to short change God by only offering the easiest and cheapest parts of your life? God’s not impressed by your left-overs. He’s asking for more. He wants the commitment you can’t afford. The time you think you don’t have. The best of you, not what’s left of you.

And here’s what I know from personal experience – your sacrifice will be rewarded. Not immediately and not in ways you have imagined. God is bigger than that – let him out of your box. You will be rewarded with a radically changed heart and priorities. You will be rewarded with a changed perspective and vision. You will be rewarded with a purpose filled future that wrecks every dream you thought you ever had because it’s bigger and better than you ever imagined. That hard, difficult road leads to LIFE!

That’s just the way God does it. He is the God who Ephesians 3:20 describes as, “the one who works through his mighty power within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Girl, you haven’t even thought to ask for the infinite possibilities God is working on in this. You’re not supposed to know about it now though. Right now, you’re being asked for a sacrifice. God is asking you to surrender, to trust him, to go, to give, to pay the price, without knowing the rest.

God holds the future, and that future depends on you giving everything you’ve been holding back here. It’s time for your sacrifice. What are you offering?

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