Have you ever spent a long time working in agreement with God for something which seems to always just be around the corner, or just over the edge, or so close you can smell it…but never quite happening?
I used the word “working” for a reason.
I’m talking about being actively involved in pursuing things with God. Doing our part in the things He is bringing about in our lives. Participating in the process of healing, participating in the process of social activity, pursuing the process of relationship with Him, seeking His face and actively taking the steps He has set out for us to take.
Not just believing in Him, in His Goodness and praying, but pursuing His Goodness, following His blueprints, seeking His face, pushing into our relationship with Him; being active in our part.
There are times when this process seems to continue and continue but any end goals we may be looking forward to, remain just outside our reach.
Actively living in this state, means we can sometimes miss the growth, change, and progress which are happening all along the way.
Physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually we are growing up.
I am half-way through a journey into physical health. God has given me tools and brought me to a place of spiritual and emotional healing which has enabled me to lose a significant amount of weight. This is answering a prayer of many, many years of diligent, persistent, frustrated, hammering prayer.
Because it’s the half-way mark and there is still a significant journey to complete, I have to remember the victory in the first half of the journey is just as victorious as the end goal. It is just as important to see the way I have grown and healed in order to enable these changes to take place, as it is to continue to position myself to be able to receive the fulfillment of the blessing.
When we have been waiting and waiting for the fulfillment of an important prophetic word, it can be easy to miss the small stones which begin falling, small stones which begin the avalanche of blessing.
“Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?” Zechariah 4:10 (NIV)
Sometimes they might feel like an annoyance. An interruption. More trouble than the blessing they bring with them.
However during all this time, we are expanding our capacity.
We are healing, taking ground, (getting thinner!), seeing results we have waited years to see, our relationships are changing and growing, atmospheres around us are changing, we are winning battles which years ago we never thought we could win; but because the atmosphere around us is still pregnant for change, we do not always see into all these other things and the expansions happening around us can become lost.
The many prayers we have prayed are being fulfilled around us, and we are brushing them off like so many flies.
If we don’t remember to take notice of these small signs of blessing, to remember to notice the signs of the times, we might miss the beginning of the fulfillment of those bigger things we have been waiting for.
If I don’t see my journey up until now as a victory, and celebrate it, practice gratitude, surrender, and thank God daily for the wins He has already given me, I am setting myself up to fail.
The end goal that we (Jesus and I) are heading for, may as well be on the impossible list. I haven’t gotten this far without Him, and I won’t get to the end without Him.
If I miss the beauty of the forest for the trees which I still have to navigate my way around, then I’m in trouble.
What blessing might we miss because we have only seen the goal and not the growth along the way?
Heads up a while and look around you.
What has God been doing that you need to see? What does He want to encourage you with? What growth has happened around you, in you, what developments have happened for you and your family which need celebrating? What do we need to thank God for, praise Him for?
Does what you’ve seen change your approach in this next period of time?
Is it time to ask for a renewed strategy, a tweak that will accelerate our progress based on what has already happened?
Maybe the opportunity to see things from God’s perspective is enough. Enough to renew hope and restore courage.
I pray so.
God Bless You Very Much
Anita