Moving Forward in Faith Knowing that God is in Control

Olivia and I have been Directors for A Weekend to Remember in Corpus Christi for three years now. This is a calling that we felt God placed on our hearts, and we still believe that we are called to help couples strengthen their marriages through learning more of God's plan for marriage. We primarily have done this through promoting A Weekend to Remember, a 2 1/2 day marriage conference and getaway that comes to Corpus Christi every year.

Every year, our location is on the chopping block because attendance is consistently low in Corpus Christi. That is a real shame considering the hundreds of couples who have attended and stated their lives have been changed because of the weekend. This year was meant to be different. Our team boldly latched onto the scripture Luke 14:23 to remind ourselves to boldly go forward and invite people left and right to attend this event. We were excited and fired up.

Then, a series of setbacks began to add up ranging from marketing gaffs, volunteers backing out after years of service, close friends falling into infidelity in their marriages, and a tragic accident involving one of our core couples. The end result so far is the lowest attendance we have ever seen. It was very easy to be discouraged and frustrated by this, and in some ways I still am. Satan was definitely on the attack in our efforts. In many ways, he is coming after each one of us (Luke 22:31-32).

Despite all this, I believe that God has brought us the successes we do have. He is in total control of the outcomes, and He can build something big out of what seems like a failure. Even when it seems we have been derailed, God has purpose in that (Acts 16:6-15). We look at the single event and say to ourselves, yup, that was a total failure. God looks at us as a work in progress, and what we would consider a failure is simply one step in the entire journey God has for us.

Isaiah 64:8, "...We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." (NIV)