Daily life is hard.
Recently, I filled up the final page of a journal I started last summer. Those several months ago, I thought it impossible that I’d be in the position of sitting and writing a blog, preparing to walk with God internationally. My God doesn’t fathom “impossible.” It’s been a roller-coaster of a year.
I’m learning that about 95% of life is preparation and waiting. We’re taught to expect every day to be an adventure, and to feel bad if it’s not. We’re supposed to hop out of bed, because today is the day! That answer we’ve been waiting for, promotion we’ve been hoping for, relationship we’ve been dreaming of, it’s all happening today. After all, God wants the best for us — why shouldn’t we get it today?
Before I misspeak, I ardently believe that God wants to be intimately involved in each day — making it worthwhile, inspiring, and surprising. He waits for us to believe in His power to give us more than we consider normal.
Yet part of that “more” is our daily routine of work, schedules, and appointments. It’s waiting in the months of unanswered prayer. It’s faithfulness to tough friendships and tiring jobs. It’s preparation: for work, for class, for health. It’s continually learning more about God and His character. It’s praising Him anyway when we’re confused or disappointed.
Typically, God does not bring us a game-changer every day, because when the game-changer comes, so does clarity. And relief that it didn’t come sooner. And appreciation for the months of rest, the years of building a trusting relationship, the work ethic developed in a tough job, everything that makes that game-changer work. When we wait faithfully on the Lord and respond to Him with quick obedience, the weight of the daily grind seems like a feather as we see the boulder-sized puzzle pieces He moved around for us in the meantime.
God’s front-line men knew it too.
Joseph waited for TWO YEARS in jail, without a word, while God prepared the way for him to become invaluable to Egypt’s Pharaoh. When it was time, Joseph was perfectly punctual to predict the seasons of plenty and hunger from Pharaoh’s dream. He was then granted much favor and influence to save his people from starvation. (Genesis 41-47)
After becoming a Christian, Paul sought out solitude for THREE YEARS to meet with the Lord and prepare for his ministry — teaching the culturally CRAZY concept that Jesus came to save everyone, and now we don’t have to be Jews adhering to the Old Testament Law to be reconciled to the Lord. (Galatians 1:15-18)
Pictured below are some of my largest words throughout my last journal. [I write big when I get passionate.] Now I get to see how God was moving the boulder puzzle pieces for me while I did my daily walk in joy, anger, sadness, hope, and everything in between. My waiting and preparation over the past year is crucial to my ability to be available to God as I serve on the World Race in the fall.
He’s prepared me to: hear His voice, abandon myself to His call, trust in His faithfulness and power so I can take risks and ask for big things, be invested in the present, have faith in what I do not see, and the list goes on…
Lesson 3: God is acting in our seasons of waiting and preparation.
They’re important.
