God has a plan and a purpose for each one of us. He knows exactly what His will is for us before we’re born. He also knows what choices we will make along life’s way. It is through our choices that our life can take wrong turns from God’s ultimate will for us. Once we’ve lost our way it can be difficult to find our way back again, and at times it may look or feel impossible. I know I’ve been there and felt that way, a few times.

Finding our way back to His will requires devotion, diligence, strength and passion. Devotion to God and His plan for our lives. Diligence to stay focused on the mark set before us. Strength to stand fast and fight through whatever difficulties come our way. Passion for the mission(s) God places on our hearts and the people He sends our way.

Before we can begin to walk down the path God has designed for us and called us to, we must open ourselves up in order to reach those God places across our path.

We must start by preparing our hearts; to see people the way God does, to touch them the way Christ did, and to point them to the cross through it all.

Our hearts must be open to others, to God’s will and plan for our lives no matter what He asks of us. We are often quick to say that we’re ready to serve the Lord, whatever it is. Yet, we don’t know what lies ahead, so we need to ensure our hearts are soft, gentle and yielded to whomever, whatever and wherever God calls us to serve.

Our future may hold opportunities that we may never have thought about. Opportunities that if our hearts are not properly prepared, we could miss entirely.

How do we prepare our hearts for the unknown?

We must be in prayer.

For in prayer our hearts become united with God.

Our prayers must begin with asking the Lord to soften our hearts. Living in this sinful world we tend to have our hearts hardened, even when we don’t realize it. Whether the hardness of our hearts is due to being hurt, let down, or becoming “used to” people not wanting to hear about Christ. We must have softened hearts so that we can rightly serve Him and reach others for Him.

Our prayers also need to be seeking a compassion filled heart. Looking around the world we should be broken for all those hurting and in need of Christ. All around us are people in pain; some emotionally struggling to find love, others mentally exhausted from striving to make ends meet, and those whose physical pain is untouchable without food to eat and/or clean water to drink. Just as Jesus’ heart was filled with compassion (which is shown throughout His earthly ministry), we must have a compassionate heart liken to His.

These next two steps are the hardest for many people.

The first one is opening your heart for and to others. Opening your heart, allowing others to see and know the real you is crucial to reaching others and touching their lives.

The second step is just as important as the first, your heart must be open to getting to know others. You must be willing to do so even if their lives are a bit messy as well. I think the reason these are the scariest steps is because this is where we become vulnerable….this is when we might get hurt.

Looking once again to Christ’s example, we do not see Him hiding who He is, or what He came to do from those to whom He was ministering. He even knew exactly how they would respond! He still was open and honest no matter what pain or hurt He might face. We don’t ever know how someone will respond, and since we don’t know how can we choose to lock ourselves up tight? How can we not befriend someone who is hurting? Someone that might need to know who we are, where we’ve been and/or how God brought us to where we are today?

God is just waiting for us to open our hearts to His will, to others in need of His love and salvation. Will we go to our knees and give Him the key to our hearts? Will we allow Him to use us to reach people He brings our way throughout our lives? Even if it gets a bit messy or difficult? Will we allow God to open our hearts to be softened, filled with His compassion and allow others into our real and often messy lives?

I am praying for you, as I hope you will for me; that our hearts will be and remain unlocked for God’s use. Which will enable us to change the world for Christ by being open and honest with those God sends our way.