Let Him use you, right where you are.

I have always been a person of big dreams and outlandish goals.  I never settle for anything but the best out of myself and can get frustrated enough to pull my hair out if things don't go MY way.  Its my way or the highway, right?  Wrong.  God has a plan for each of us, and it will follow through whether we really like it or not.  Just think of poor old Jonah.  Jonah was a prophet and was a very distinguished and important member of society, everything was going how he wanted and he lived a nice comfortable life.  Then, one day God put a dent in his plan.  He sent him to Ninevah.  Now Ninevah was a terrible foul place, full of people who had turned their backs on God.  It was a harsh society, just think of it as the last place you would want to go in your city or the "bad" side of town.  Jonah felt disrespected and betrayed by God, he tried to plead his way out, but still God sent him.  So, instead of going to Ninevah Jonah ran away from God, getting on a boat to travel far away.  But because of his disobedience, God sent a great storm.  Realizing Jonah as the cause of this, the crew through him overboard where he was eaten by a big fish.  Now i don't know about you, but Ninevah sounds a bit better than the stomach of a giant fish.  Those things will eat anyhing: other fish, seals, tires, hooks, boots, dog food, televisions, mountain dews, volvos, arms, legs, spleens. You get the picture.

 
Very soon after being eaten, Jonah realized the same thing i just did.  Maybe Ninevah isn't so bad after all.  He talked to God, and the fish spit him out and Jonah headed to do God's will.  Just as in Jonah's case, God has a calling for each of us.  For  the longest time I wanted to travel, and to go on mission trips.  I tried my hardest, but money problems and family issues kept getting in my way.  Then I realized that these trips were MY plan not God's.  I was shooting for big scale when I couldn't even handle the small.  I have a small terrier dog and she loves to chase her ball. Now if you've never had a small dog and a slick floor its a sight to watch.  She chases the ball with all her might, without even looking to see where she's going.  And 99% of the time she almost gets there, and almost catches that ball that is the point of her focus, and instead crashes straight into a door.  So many times we focus on that thing we want so much in life, without looking up to see God and what he has in store for us, and we crash and burn.  But when we look to God he can open those doors for us, they may not lead where we want all of the time, but its so much better than crashing into a wall, and losing everything we looked forward too.  Sometimes, God doesn't want us to jump straight into such big scale dreams, or sometimes its just all in HIS timing.  Let him use you today, right where you are. The Bible says this in 1 John 5:14 "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."  Set your focuses on him, and his plan will be yours.