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May 18, 2025 06:00am

Have Thine Own Way

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A few years ago, my husband, Brian, and I were blessed to purchase some land that joined the back side of our property. The land was mostly wooded and had been great for the previous landowner’s purpose, which was hunting. But we desired grazing and hay pasture for our cattle. Over the past few years, Brian has spent countless hours on the bulldozer—pushing and piling trees, spraying weeds and thorn bushes, chainsawing, burning brush piles, picking up dead limbs, and planting grass seed. Finally, after all that work, we have a beautiful pasture full of healthy grass that will sustain the cattle herd.

Was the land fine before? Sure, it had been a great blessing to the sweet landowner before. They harvested some great bucks and made some precious memories there.

But it wasn’t suitable for our purpose.

We had to shape it and mold it into what we needed it to be.

Sometimes God chips away at things in our lives—people, relationships, jobs, comfort, control, steadiness, security, plans, friendships, pride, selfishness, anger, addiction, fear, worry, bitterness, unforgiveness—and the list goes on.

Just as Brian cut certain trees and sprayed certain weeds to improve the growth of the fields, God targets certain areas of our lives that need improvement. He removes those things that don’t resemble Him, that don’t suit His purpose for us. They may be thorns or weeds that will end up choking us out or growing wild. We’re His field. He’s cutting and spraying and burning and sowing. Heck, sometimes He just bulldozes right through our plans.

At the time, the changing and removing can be painful and difficult. We may not know or appreciate or understand what God is doing, and we may worry about what the end result will look like. But the Creator’s plan and ways are higher than our plans and ways.

Isaiah 55:8-9: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

There were times when our fields looked rough. The trees were piled up everywhere; the ground was bare. It was overwhelming. But we stayed the course and trusted the plan. We had faith that the end result would be worth all the difficulties. We had to remember the purpose.

God may have removed something or someone from your life. You may be struggling with a shift in the course of life. You may have lost your way or may be questioning everything. You may be struggling to lay down something that you know God wants you to let go of. You may be completely overwhelmed. It’s hard.

But God is not confused. His plan is not weak. He has not made a mistake. If you are a child of God, He has a plan for you, and it is good. Like our fields, it may be a process to get you where He wants you to be. It may look messy for a while. It may look bare for a bit. It may hurt to let go. But remember that He has a beautiful, grassy field just waiting on the other side of this trial. Be patient. Trust. Have faith. Let Him mold you and shape you and order your life according to His will and not your own. You’ll be so glad you did.

Have Thine own way, Lord
Have Thine own way
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay
Mold me and make me after Thy will
While I am waiting, yielded and still