Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
10 21 2026
God, What in the World Are You Doing With My Life? Part 1 of 2
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” (Romans 8:29)
If God is sovereign, what in the world is He doing with my life? I heard Charles Stanley say something to the effect that God is more interested in molding and shaping you into the vessel of His choice. Think about that. HIS choice. Not necessarily yours. He has a holy purpose for you, but perhaps not in the vessel you currently are. He may have to make some changes, cut off some edges, fill in some gaps, and restructure some deep holes to get you there. And that, my dear friends…will take PROBLEMS.
But we…YOU…don’t always fully realize that problems shape us. Or that God can use those problems for a holy purpose. They change the trajectory of our path, our journey, our relationships, our plans, and all those want-to’s we’ve carefully arranged. We don’t clearly see that He has a plan for us far beyond today’s problems. And He can use every detour, every sidetrack, every calamity to shape us into the person He created us to become.
WE THINK TOO SMALL! We’re trying to understand an eternal God with a mind that can’t even comprehend tomorrow. He sees the beginning, the ending, and everything in between…while we’re still trying to figure out what happened yesterday! His thoughts and His ways are so much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8–9). We pray to God about getting BEYOND our problems…but too often, what do we get? ANOTHER PROBLEM! Lord, seriously? Haven’t we had enough? But don’t you know, as a parent, that sometimes a father loves his child too much to give him what he wants too quickly?
Let me give you a picture. In Jeremiah 18, God sends the prophet to a potter’s house. There he watches a man working clay on his wheel. But something happens. The vessel becomes marred in the potter’s hands. Now watch this. THE POTTER DOESN’T THROW THE CLAY AWAY. He reshapes it into another vessel, as seems best to him. Can you imagine if that clay could talk? “Wait a minute! I liked the way I was! Why are you pressing there? Why are you changing my shape?
I thought we were almost finished!”
Sound familiar?
Sometimes we’re so busy protesting the pressure that we fail to recognize the hands holding us.
Don’t you know that God is more interested in you becoming a godly person, learning to follow Him, trust Him, and walk in His ways, than He is in simply solving today’s problems? Listening? He has a much bigger view…a bigger plan…a more startling vision FOR you…and ultimately for HIS glory. Does He care about your problems? YES! Does He want to help you? YES! Is He bigger than your problems? YES! YES! YES!
But He’s also deeply interested in WHAT and WHO you’re becoming.
Romans 8:29 tells us He predestined us to be conformed to whose image? HIS SON! Not the makeover you went through. Not the plastic surgery to improve this or that. He’s interested in the YOU on the inside. Your heart. Your motives. Your pride. Your forgiveness. Your obedience. Your trust. And sometimes God looks beyond the request we’re making. Although He’s keenly aware of the pain and hurt in our hearts, He also sees something in us that shouldn’t be there. Something we’ve been building our lives upon. Something we’ve refused to surrender. Something standing between us and becoming more like Jesus.
And He has this wonderful, loving…and sometimes painfully difficult way of allowing us to WAIT. Not because He’s forgotten us. But perhaps because there’s something WE need to recognize, release, or repent of before moving forward. Remember Joseph? Betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and forgotten in prison. Years of detours! Yet God was preparing him for a purpose Joseph couldn’t possibly see from that prison cell (Genesis 37–50). He didn’t just save a family. He saved a nation! The detour wasn’t the end of his story…even the long ones. Neither is yours.
Now, listen…not every problem is God’s correction. Sometimes we suffer because we live in a broken world. But no suffering is beyond His ability to redeem or use for His purpose and His glory. So let me ask you something. Are you praying only for God to CHANGE your circumstances, or are you willing to let Him CHANGE YOU?
Could the very thing you’re resisting be something He’s using to draw you closer?
This Friday is my birthday. Another year of living, learning, making mistakes, experiencing victories and disappointments, and discovering how much I still don’t know. And I’ve been thinking about what I really want for my birthday. Not something wrapped in a box. Not another possession or accomplishment. The gift I want most is to become more like JESUS. I want to reflect Him more clearly in every aspect of my life. In my marriage, my family, my friendships, my conversations,
and even in the way I respond when life doesn’t go my way.
I want His love to become so much a part of who I am that it shows up without my having to announce it. That people don’t just hear me talk about Jesus…they experience something of His love through me. That the presence and fruit of the Holy Spirit in my life would cause someone to hunger for what they see. Not because they see Dennis, but because they catch a glimpse of JESUS. Wouldn’t that be something? To live in such a way that someone asks, “What is it about you that I don’t have?” And I could humbly point them to Him.
HE LOVES US TOO MUCH TO GIVE US WHAT WE WANT TOO QUICKLY. Because sometimes He’s preparing something far greater than what we’ve been asking for. And as I approach another birthday, I realize the greatest gift isn’t another year of life…it’s becoming more like Christ with the life He’s given me. That’s my birthday prayer. And perhaps it could become yours, too.
Father, thank You for every year, every blessing, every detour, and even the difficult seasons You’ve used to shape me. I don’t want to simply grow older. I want to grow more like Your Son. Let Your love overflow into every relationship and every corner of my life. May others see less of me and more of Jesus, and may Your Spirit in me awaken a hunger for You in them.
Keep shaping me, Lord. I’m still clay in the Potter’s hands. Amen.
Friday: Are You Representing Jesus…or Reflecting Him? Part II
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Thank you for allowing me the privilege of sharing this journey with you. You are prayed for, valued, and deeply appreciated.
Thank you for allowing me the privilege of sharing this journey with you. You are prayed for, valued, and deeply appreciated.
Chris Tomlin Here I am to worship
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