God doesn’t forget your dreams… But sometimes He asks you to wait.
He doesn’t forget the seeds of passion He plants in you, propelling you on a journey.
But there was a time when I thought He did.
I came home from the World Race in December of 2013, and planned on returning to the field a year later to lead a trip. When I wasn’t accepted to lead a Passport trip the following January, I felt betrayed and forgotten.
“God, isn’t this what you wanted? Didn’t you reveal to me in India how my heart beats for my generation? Weren’t you the one who showed me the influence I have? Didn’t you call me to lead?”
I entered into my second semester of CGA (discipleship training at Adventures in Missions) having God’s resounding answer be to “wait and rest.”
With leading a trip off the table, I found myself able to be more present, taking the things I was learning from my community, course teachers, and God. I started receiving it for myself. Sara Shoup. A person. A daughter of God. Not Sara Shoup, the leader.
When we “wait” well, we don’t fret over or focus on the future. We live in the moment. The present is taken in through a lens which builds intimacy with God and brings us security in who we are as His kids.
In my first semester of CGA, I focused on the future and my hopes to lead a trip. I took in all the information that was given to me and processed it through a filter of how it made me a better, more efficient leader. I let it influence my role, not me and my relationship with Jesus.
Waiting well lets the Lord influence YOU. It strengthens your intimacy with Him. Not waiting well influences your position, further fueling an identity shaped by performance. Are you hearing this?
Once I let my waiting be about God, I was able to trust Him because the goodness of His character was revealed to me. He showed me He is for me; we’re a team working together, not against each other. And He’s on my team no matter what. He doesn’t step off the court to the sideline if I make a mistake. He doesn’t leave and wait for me to fix it. He stays. Always.
If my waiting would have been consumed with what I needed to do to be accepted to lead a trip, I would have missed a life changing season of knowing more of Him.
Does the Lord have you in a season of waiting right now? If so, are you waiting well?
Are you being present? Are you letting today be about Him and your relationship, trusting the future is already worked out and being handled by Him?
As I wrote those questions, I had to ask them to myself. I don’t do it perfectly, or even well, all the time. I’m writing this coming off a week of being home and working on the family farm. There were times this week where I wasn’t waiting well.
But today’s a new day and a fresh start.
