The great key to a successful life, a fruitful and meaningful life, is to keep God first. This is one fundamental truth that I have learned from The Way Ministry. By “learned,” I mean not only being shown it in the Word of God but also being shown how this truth can be practically applied day by day, year by year, and season of life to season of life.
I have a personal saying that reflects what I have seen as a result of putting God first in my life. It is, “Everything good in my life is because of God.”
The life I had before I learned about God was very good. But when, by His grace, I was witnessed to and began to learn the Word of God in The Way Ministry, the joy and thankfulness I felt exceeded anything in my experience. Nothing took precedence over attending fellowship and ministry functions. My life was enhanced in every way by the Word I was learning to apply, and keeping God first posed no difficulty whatsoever for me at that time.
Then I began to come to crossroads where keeping God first required decisions that would alter the course of my life. One road led to all that was familiar, comfortable, and in some cases “reasonable,” and the other to opportunities that I knew in my heart were from God. Crossroad one: wait to register for the Advanced Class until I was debt-free or make the commitment first and believe God to supply the need. Next crossroad: continue to enjoy my very wonderful and fulfilling job, fellowship, and family or leave it for the unknown and serve as a Way Disciple. Next crossroad: go back to my life before Way Disciple or serve on Staff. Next, continue serving as a household fellowship coordinator together with my husband in a lovely home, prospering and blessed or enter The Way Corps training program. Next crossroad: ask to stay in the United States or accept a Way Corps assignment almost five thousand miles away in a foreign country.
At every one of these major crossroads, and many more in between, I have relied on the same fundamental truth I learned in The Way Ministry as a young believer—keep God first. As a result, God has brought to pass desires of my heart that only He could have known of, including some that I myself did not recognize. At no point have I given up something that God has not replenished over and above. I live today without regret and without fear of lack in any category. What can the world offer that is worth more? As I always say, “Everything good in my life is because of God,” and I know this by experience because I was taught to keep God first.