What Is God’s Will for My Life When Plans Change?
When life doesn’t go as planned, discover how to trust God’s bigger purpose for your life. Learn from the story of Luke 5 how God can disrupt your plans for a greater calling.
I didn’t plan on pastoring a church in eastern North Carolina. In fact, I didn’t plan on being the preaching pastor for a church at all. My plan was to use my musical gifts and abilities to serve in associate worship ministry until I retired, once my fingers were too old to play piano and guitar.
But in the summer of 2024, God called us to sell our comfortable home and move four hours away from our friends and familiar surroundings. That change didn’t feel easy or expected—it felt like a disruption. Part of me didn’t want to go. I had a great plan in mind, one that felt secure and sensible. But God had a plan for us that fit into His bigger story. His purpose was greater.
Here are three things to keep in mind when contemplating God’s purpose for your life when your plans suddenly and unexpectedly change.
Expect God to Disrupt Your Plans
Expect the Unexpected in Your Life
When Jesus called Peter to follow Him in Luke 5:1–11, Peter was going about his daily grind. This was not an unusual day for Peter—it was routine. Peter had most likely been a fisherman since he was young, having grown up in a family trade. In his day, a trade was often passed down from generation to generation. His father taught him to fish, and his father had learned it from his father before him.
How God Disrupts for His Greater Purpose
But Jesus disrupts this daily grind to bring about a disruption that has eternal implications.
As a believer, you should learn to expect that God will intervene in your life in both big ways and small ones. Sometimes that means seeking God’s will in the seemingly ordinary details of life—things like work, family, friendships, and even leisure.
But other times, God walks directly into our plans, just like He walked into Peter’s workday, without invitation but with divine purpose. He enters not to inconvenience, but to redirect. If you’re struggling to make heads or tails of why God has changed your plans, remember this: He is the God who acts. He walks into our lives and acts as a holy force of disruption. We see it with Peter, and we see it consistently throughout all of Scripture. His disruption reminds us that life, including our worship, is not about us.
Receive God’s Disruption
What Disruption Looks Like
You may not like the word disruption. In our culture, disruption is usually viewed as negative—an inconvenience, an unwelcome interruption. But all disruptions are not bad. In fact, some of them are for our good.
As a follower of Jesus, you are called to receive God’s disruption with a spirit of trust and obedience. Peter did not initially respond in faith. He responds, “Master, we have toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your word I will let down the nets.”
Peter’s response has all the enthusiasm of a toddler called for bathtime—reluctant, tired, unsure. He doesn’t respond with full-hearted faith—at least, not at first—until he sees what Jesus does.
How Jesus Provides
And what does Jesus do? He takes care of the fishermen’s families by providing an abundance of food, and He shows Peter that Peter can rely on Him. He meets their immediate need while pointing them to a higher calling. In other words, Jesus feeds their families, and He feeds their faith. His miracle was physical and spiritual.
Through Peter, we see that we too should receive Jesus’ disruption into our lives. When He calls us to something new, He always provides for our needs. Whether God has called you to move across the world or simply to reach out to someone down the street, He will provide for your spiritual and physical needs.
He doesn’t send us alone; He goes before us. Receive Jesus’ disruption into your life with an open heart and eager faith, trusting that what He gives is always better than what you had planned.
Live in God’s Bigger Story
Understanding Yourself in Light of Jesus
Jesus doesn’t disrupt Peter’s life to make Peter a slightly improved version of himself. He doesn’t call him to be just a better fisherman. He calls Peter to a new self and a new life entirely—by inviting him into the greater, redemptive meta-story of God.
Notice that Peter begins to understand himself more clearly in light of who Jesus is. He falls down on his knees and says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” It is a moment of humility, awe, and deep recognition. Peter’s identity becomes clear in the presence of Christ. And Jesus immediately invites him into the mission. Jesus says, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
Living in the Mission
We also only understand ourselves and our lives when we see them in light of Jesus. The things we once thought were all-important—career goals, personal ambitions, safety, or comfort—pale in comparison to the joy of knowing Jesus and living in the mission He has called us to.
Our values shift. Our priorities realign. The story becomes less about us—and more about Him. And our story becomes a part of something far bigger than ourselves.
Nine Marks has an excellent book on this here.
If you are struggling to understand God’s will in your life and why God has brought you through so much change, remember this: you too are called to know the Savior who walks by the sea. He sees you, knows you, and calls you. And you too are called to be a fisher of men—right where you are, with what He has given.
The rest of life—the schedules, setbacks, successes—all serve that calling. Everything else in your life is details.
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