Does God Have a Plan for Every Life?

God made you on purpose, for a purpose. You have a calling from God! When He knit you together in your mother’s womb, He gifted you everything needed for success in your call. Throughout your life, God calls you toward your intended purpose. Romans 11:29 assures you He never removes the gifts or revokes the call.

Your life mission is to find your purpose, your calling…but it won’t be easy. In fact, Jesus said:

“But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” Matthew 7:14 NLT

Speaker, Poet Traci Neal discovered her mission includes helping others press through to that gateway! After rejecting the narrow road and enduring the heart-breaking futility of going her own way, she now walks through life proclaiming the Way to purpose and fulfillment! (John 14:6)

Traci got on the path to success early. As a teen, many recognized her gift with words. Accolades and awards for her skill fueled a dream of becoming a world-changing poet like Maya Angelou. Equipped with a go-getter personality, Traci seemed to be on the fast track for fulfilling God’s purpose for her life. But she had an enemy whose tricks she didn’t know.

In college, her enemy used the temptations of earthly living to allure her away from God’s plan for her life. Traci started hearing the devil’s whispers. He used many voices to speak his lying words – parents, teachers, friends, and even her own.

“You need a stable career.” “You haven’t got what it takes.” “Poetry doesn’t pay.” “You’re not pretty enough.” “You can’t even get a man.” “Grow up.” “You’ll never be good enough.”

The tempter was working to destroy God’s design for Traci. It’s what he does to you. It’s what he was doing in Jesus’ temptations (Luke 4). Satan understands that God’s calling on your life will bring you to Jesus. He knows that if you answer God’s call and put your gifts to work, others will come to Jesus too. Satan doesn’t want that. He hates God…and the people God loves. Jesus explains it this way:

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)

The devil’s work is dastardly, but Jesus’ work is complete. Your calling is yours to claim! You don’t have to be destroyed by the devil’s work because Jesus already triumphed over him.

Throughout the millennia, Satan has employed the same three-pronged approach he used against Jesus. He tempts you to meet your own needs, define your own purpose, and create your own tribe. Basically, his call is ‘become your own god.’ We make lousy Gods. Jesus’ responses to the temptations help us learn to choose life.

Live from the Word. Worship God alone. Never tempt God.

When we adopt Jesus’ responses, we have communion with God, community others and a grand commission for our lives. But as Traci found, when we don’t, we begin to self-destruct.

In Traci’s life, Satan enticed her to give up poetry and focus on becoming a teacher like her dad. Logically persuaded that education offered a relevant career she could rely on to provide for her future security, she set out to create her own path to fulfillment. That choice opened the door to insecurity and created a vacuum in her life.

Popularity and power offered a solution to her emptiness, so Traci rejected her parent’s old-school boundaries to gain control. She tried the world’s way of drinking and immorality. The cost was high…violent relationships, rape, shattered self-esteem, and ultimately brokenness. After graduation, she found work in education but repeatedly failed the exam she needed to progress in her career.

“Nothing worked,” Traci explains. “I felt like a failure. I kept looking for fulfillment in relationships. Finally, I met a great guy, got engaged, and centered my world on him. I thought I had found the way. But one week after my 26th birthday, he died from a brain injury. I was devastated and angry with God.”

“For a year, I vented my anger at God. Bereavement support groups depressed me. I saw people who grieved for decades. I wanted healing! Desperate, I cried out to God in a quasi-surrender: ‘Fine! I guess it’s just you and me, God. Here I am. You got me.'”

“It wasn’t sweet submission, but God met me in my brokenness and kept calling me to come closer.”

Months later, sitting in church, Traci’s Bishop spoke directly to her heart: “Someone here today is overwhelmed with pain. God wants to heal you! Press! Push! Believe!”

“I knew in my heart that word was for me. I desperately wanted healing. I believed. And God freed me!”

Reconnected to her Creator, Traci’s God-given gifts began stirring again. “I was deeply afraid of disappointing my earthly dad, but my heavenly Father reassured me: ‘He’ll come around.’ So I began writing and performing again. It’s been amazing! In just eight months, I have been invited to 22 radio shows. God has given me a plan for a ten-book series to help other young people find their way to their purpose and calling.”

Now living out her purpose as God intended, Traci challenges youth: “If you have something you hold onto more than God – that is your love. He wants to be your only love. I was unapologetic when I was in the world. I am unapologetic now for Jesus.”

Traci knows the narrow road is the place of abundance, and she proclaims it everywhere! Don’t let the enemy derail you from the purpose God intends for your life. To live out your calling, root yourself in God’s love, trust Him and enjoy His company. Your purpose – and your heart – will be fulfilled.

Traci’s motto sums up her passion well: Go. Do. Become.

Learn More About a Relationship with Jesus