One example is the Apostle Paul planning to stop at Rome to minister and equip for a trip to Spain. This was on his heart, and he believed he would one day do it to the point where he began planning for the trip. It never happened. Paul didn't make it to Spain, at least not by way of Rome as planned (Scholars disagree as to whether he ever made it there at all or not). But his plans were not a waste. Part of the reason that Paul wrote the letter to the Romans that contains so much wonderful doctrine and truth was to let the church in Rome know that he wanted to minister to them, visit (relax and refresh before the next missionary trip) and equip for the trip he wanted to take to Spain. He knew that they were an established church that he did not help plant, so he shared the doctrine he taught in order that they would know that his doctrine was sound, that he preached the same Jesus as the other apostles and they would know what to expect from his teaching. Because of his plans and preparations for a journey that never happened we have the book of Romans to learn from and the church in Rome knew him and his message when he ended up there as a prisoner.
Another more recent and secular example can be found in Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry had plans for a television series that would be a sci-fi take on Wagon Train. He called it Star Trek and filmed a pilot about the Starship Enterprise and its captain, Christopher Pike in 1965. The pilot was rejected. A year later, a second pilot was made with another captain, James Tiberius Kirk. It was accepted and a franchise was born that led to a dozen movies and six different television series (including the little known and short-lived animated series). The first pilot failed, which is why this is the year sci-fi geeks like me are celebrating Star Trek's 50th anniversary this year and not its 51st. But nothing was wasted. The original pilot, The Cage, had it's footage cut for flashback used in the original series of Star Trek's only two-part episode, The Managerie, Part 1 of which aired for the first time 50 years ago today.
A final example from personal experience. When I first started college I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. I first chose math as a major because it came easy to me, I wouldn't have to study much and could party more. Then I realized what my options for careers were with a math degree and no science or computer to go with it (I was an English minor). I changed majors. I didn't choose English for basically the same reason. I settled on journalism, because it was a field that seemed halfway interesting where you could receive a steady paycheck for writing. That led to a required basic photography course, and I fell in love with the camera. I changed my emphasis to photojournalism. I always felt the journalism idea simply took me to photography, something I loved and wanted to do for a living (preferably as a photojournalist and an artist). But the wreckage of my past, my eyesight deterioration and other things have turned photography into something I used to do or enjoy from time to time as a hobby. But I use what I was taught while studying journalism every day in ministry. It wasn't wasted, and though I wasn't walking with God when I made the choices I made that led me to this place, God used every step of my past, including the plans that never came to be, the paths I destroyed and the dreams that fell apart, to prepare me and bring me to a place where He could use me.
It can be discouraging when we feel we know where, what, how and when God is calling us to something, begin to prepare for it, and then God changes it. But the preparation may have been necessary for us, and there may have also been some service during that time in that place that we were needed to do to help someone and to give God glory. It can also be heartbreaking when we look back over lives filled with scars where choices we made, things others did, and life have simply made a mess out of what we thought, wanted and or dreamt we would be doing. When I was a child one answer I never ever gave to the what do you want to be question was preacher. This was not my goal or plan. And my personal hopes and plans went up in the smoke of the fires of destruction I set in my own life. But God used it all, I am not ashamed of my past nor wish to close the door on it because I know that my experience (the word of my testimony) is a weapon to be wielded against the enemy and can and will help others held hostage by the enemy to find freedom and life. What God led me to, even though it wasn't on my own radar, is the perfect fit for me, and there is something more satisfying and purposeful about it than I ever felt doing anything else, including photography. What God did for me, He can do for you. Try not to feel like all is lost because expectations about how life would be failed. It's not wasted. God will use it all as we surrender to Him, and His salvage job with what's left of our life will still be better, more satisfying, than anything we could have wished for or done on our own.
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