He Shall Direct Your Paths

Yesterday I shared with you how my life purpose came to me. It came only after I realized, on that camping trip of prayer and fasting, that God really didn’t need my accumulated education, skills or experiences. He only wanted me, specifically my love for Him.

Here is the rest of that story.

The very next day, one of my Wheaton professors told me about a job opportunity that seemed tailor-made for me and all of my seemingly unrelated life experiences. It was a position in service to the poor with a consortium of relief and development agencies in Haiti. And, you guessed it, Compassion was part of that group of agencies.

That was 35 years ago. Decades have passed, and I’ve never once regretted my decision to dedicate my life to the mission of Compassion. God has blessed this organization greatly over the years. He has blessed me, too.

Wess Stafford celebrating with a group of people

But every once in a while I stop and realize that nothing has really changed. He still doesn’t need me to lead Compassion in order to bless the poor. He can do that all by Himself. He still wants only my love.

I’ve made it a habit to pause daily and ask myself,

“Do I really love Him today?”

I encourage all of us in this Compassion family do the same. Had I not discovered that truth — that what He wants from me is my love — I am convinced I never would have found my life’s purpose.

If you will love God with your whole heart and trust fully in Him, He will direct you. He wants to use your gifts and experiences to accomplish His perfect plan for your life. Where will loving God lead you?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. — Proverbs 3:5–6 (NIV)

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You that we can trust You with our lives. Thank You that when we commit to put Your kingdom first, all these other things, including our path in life, are added to us. May we live lives pleasing to You today.


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7 Comments |Add a comment

  1. Fredrick Otieno March 15, 2020

    The most profound message for me was in this line:

    “If you will love God with your whole heart and trust fully in Him, He will direct you”

    Let me do what He will enable me.

  2. J Solomom January 16, 2012

    Really ! I realised me like unworthy person also can be a part of His great commission just commit me and love Him, an d love Him with all my herart and soul with my body I too can do wonders in my life to extend His love to many and become blessed to many as He loves.
    Thanks for this touchable witnessed message this morning.
    May our beloved continuing to show His GRACE on all of us.

  3. Deb M. January 4, 2012

    This article compelled me to write, I was moved to tears. We forget that God is our Father and He loved us so much that He gave His only Son Jesus Christ to die for the sins of the world. Wess is so right he really only wants our love. Love you Abba Father God!!!

  4. Kees Boer January 4, 2012

    Wess, thank you so much for writing this. This truly ministered to me.

  5. Lisa Miles January 3, 2012

    Wess, thank you so much for this latest series of articles on the blog. This message spoke to me, personally. I’m grateful for what you wrote.

    You’re so right. All God wants from us is our love. It’s strange to think how we spend much of our lives chasing after worldy accomplishments when Jesus did the exact opposite.

    I love this. It’s called “One Solitary Life” and I think it speaks to your message:

    Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

    He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself…

    He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, His executioners gambled for His clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend

    Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is considered by many to be the central figure of the human race, and the leader of mankind’s progress. All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned put together, have not affected the life of mankind on earth as powerfully as that one solitary life.

  6. Laura Kakar January 3, 2012

    That’s so true! Thank you for the uplifting words! I am sponsoring a little girl in Ecuador because of your organization. It has been one of the best things I have ever done. I look forward to the pictures she draws in her letters to me. Being a part of Compassion’s mission has changed me for the better.

  7. anthony January 3, 2012

    I am speechless…this is so profound and powerful and at the very core of what Compassion is all about..Love

    Thanks Papa Wess.

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