I have thought that it would be nice if God would lay out His plans with a little more detail, but that does not seem to be the way He works. By Gary Shotton #000079

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First “Yes,” Then “How”

By Gary Shotton

I have come to understand that after my due diligence I must first say, “Yes,” then He will start showing me “How.” It is as basic as learning to count!

After graduating as a Mining Engineer and working 9 years for a large oil company, I became convinced that God was leading me and our family of five to attend a Bible School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. I was trying to be a responsible leader of my family and would have liked to have God guarantee a few things as we made plans to move 1,500 miles to a new state. But our move was the beginning of my school of Faith all my plans for employment and earned income did not work even close to my plans. I started to learn that God asked me to say “yes” and then start learning “how.”

What I know of my father and his story of starting to farm in S. E. Colorado followed this same sequence. He determined to move from Kansas to Colorado with little more than a dream to be a millionaire (in today’s money his goal was easily $10 million). He said “yes” and the started to learn “how.”

In the early 1980’s I had started a moving people as a means of getting income and this developed into a local and interstate moving company. Then I got a phone call asking me if I could move some people to Bangladesh. Without any experience and with no experience I heard myself say, “yes, I am sure we can help you”. I got the natural information like their name, phone number, and basis information about what was to be moved and their time frame. After this 20 minute conversation, I hung up the phone and started calling people to help me learn how to make this happen. I said, “yes” and then started to learn “how.”

After being in business for almost 30 years, I had gained some confidence in my business skills and ability to own and lead a company. I became confident that God was leading me to purchase a business and over a discovery period, I looked into the possibility of buying a machine shop with 15,000 s.f. of building and 41 employees. Once again, I had to say “yes” and then I started to learn “how.”

As I read scriptures, I see the same pattern. Moses was lead by God to lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt and he had to say “yes” and then God showed him “how.” Even Paul did not have a clear map laying out each step he was to take, but this is not how it worked. First “yes” then “how.”