Don't Be A Roadblock

I’ve got a little story for y’all. 
This is a story full of sadness (possibly even tears) and joy.  This story takes place this past week, in the life of JJ. I have been in charge of giving 3 talks, all pertaining to the Holy Spirit. The week before last, I talked about the person of the Holy Spirit. The talk went really well, and I was using that momentum to deliver my next talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I wanted to talk about all the gifts that He gives us and how we should use them in our everyday lives.
So I started writing out this beautiful talk that I had planned. It was going to be the best talk I had ever given! I had it all planned out that Tuesday (which is a big deal, since I am a huge procrastinator) and was going to fine tune things the rest of the week. (Now this is the point of the story where you should start getting the tissues ready.)  On Tuesday night, my car got broken into and my backpack, which had my laptop and Bible, was stolen.
I was DEVASTATED.  My whole talk and power point was stolen from me, right in my very own driveway!

 I had to reevaluate what I wanted to do. And then it struck me! All I was thinking about is what I wanted to do, not what God wanted to do. This whole time I had not even tried to listen to what God wanted me to do. I had my own plans and ran off with them. I took no time to pray about what God wanted me to say to these youth. God knew that what the youth needed wasn’t what I thought they needed, and He told me in a not so subtle way. No doubt a rookie mistake from a brand new youth minister, I quickly learned that:
I am just the vessel through which the Spirit flows.
How many times in our lives do we get so stressed or excited about what we are doing that we don’t even ask God for guidance? There have been so many times in my life when I think I know best, and EVERY time I think that, God reminds me that His plan is greater.  Fast forward to this past Sunday: after much more prayer than normal, I realized that the Holy Spirit wanted me to talk about the gifts that He can give us, but some different gifts than what I was planning.  
No matter what is happening in your life, whether you’re super stressed about an upcoming event or if you are trying to plan the most epic youth night known to man, you MUST take time to pray about it. Pray that you may be open to what God wants, not what you want.  Just remember the words that Jesus prayed in the garden: “Not my will but yours be done.”