She is so very tired. Another weekend ends just like the 102 weekends proceeding. Slamming doors, wounding words, accusations and allegations, and tears. The tears are hers, and she wonders when the day will come that she has no more of them to offer. Her friends tell her to pray, to “Let go and Let God.” Geez, hasn’t that been what she has been doing? Others tell her to cut him off, that the boys high-risk lifestyle will likely kill him one day, and if she doesn’t take protective action, she risks going down with him.
Truth be told, there are days she wishes she could. That she could just say; “You can’t be a part of my life until you confront your addictions and clean up your life.” Just write him off as a bad seed, cry tears of closure, and move on. But then she remembers the vision God gave her when he was 9 years old; the promise that one day her son would be called into the ministry and that many lives would be changed because of his testimony. And so she prays again.
Last week, I wrote about the The Wait of Faith. That uncomfortable waiting period between the time we pray about something to the time the answer manifests in the natural world … when our eyes can see it, our arms can wrap themselves around it, and our lips can shout praises to God for His faithfulness to hear and to do!
These are my most common responses when my prayers aren’t answered within the time I’ve allocated to God for their manifestation.
• I get impatient, frustrated, even downright angry with God.
• I resign myself to the situation – often out of fatigue, or by concluding (this, it) must be part of God’s will.
• I doubt God’s willingness and/or His ability to perform.
And I’m not alone, for the Bible is full of people daily wrestling with the same responses while they lived in the tension (sometimes hundreds of years long) between the promise given and the possession of that promise.
“The Lord Said: Ezekiel, son of many, you’ve heard the people in Israel use the saying, “Time passes, and the prophets are proved wrong.” Now tell the people that I, the Lord, am going to prove that saying wrong. No one will ever be able to use it again in Israel, because very soon everything I have said will come true!” Ezekiel 12:21-23
I am reading Draw The Circle by Mark Batterson and throughout the book he paints a number of word pictures that really speak to me. But perhaps my favorite (at least so far) is this:
“Faith is what keeps those dreams alive, even when it seems as though they are dead and buried. But that is the very nature of seeds. They go underground. They disappear. And while it may seem like they are dead, they are not. They’re just germinating beneath the surface!” ~Mark Batterson, Draw The Circle, Day 12: Sow a Seed
That really speaks to me.
I don’t know about you, but my spiritual backyard is littered with tomb stones of hopes and dream-seeds I’ve buried over the years. Some graves I visit periodically to mourn over their loss. Some I have so completely forgotten about that I must kneel down and read the headstone just to remember what they were. And when God brings one of those long dead dream-seeds back to life … Wow, there is absolutely nothing like it! I’ve had it happen more than once and I am currently living it out now in my small business. Something I counted dead decades ago – in fact so deeply forgotten about that it was my sister who reminded me I used to talk about doing this someday – mysteriously emerges from the ground as a seedling and beckons to be cared for, re-invigorating soul and spirit with the majesty and faithfulness of God!!
Still there are other dream-seeds of things to be (or you could call them prayers, promises, or visions) that won’t stay underground no matter how hard I try to bury them. They won’t stay underground, but neither do they appear to be growing. In fact, sometimes they sprout, die, and then sprout and die again. Over time, repeated disappointment combined with deep emotional fatigue beg me to just give up, dig up the seed, toss it in the compost pile and move on! But I just can’t bring myself to do it! Using Mark’s analogy, my FAITH in the promise of God (in His willingness to fulfill His Word) has planted seeds of HOPE in my spirit, and those seeds of HOPE are germinating.
And just like no farmer would ever plant just one seed of corn at a time, neither does Daddy God plant just one seed of HOPE at a time. He plants redundant seed, so that if one accidentally gets stepped on or plucked up, there is more dream-seed at work just beneath the surface, to bring the dream into manifestation just at the right time.
“Have faith in God! If you have faith in God and don’t doubt you can tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it will. Everything you ask for in prayer will be yours, if only you have faith. Whenever you stand up to pray, you must forgive what others have done to you. Then your Father in heaven will forgive your sins.” Mark 11:22-25 (CEV)
“Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 (AMP)
Lord, I thank you that you are the ultimate HOPE-giver, and that You (by your own Holy script, Isaiah 55:11) have declared that no promise of God ever goes without fulfillment!
When we get impatient, comfort us with the knowledge that Your timing is always perfect and give us peace to wait in faith. When fatigue and disappointment beckon us to give up and accept things as they are, stir up in us a hunger to see heavenly justice and help us persevere in faith. And when doubt whispers that You are not able, or unwilling … let us be quick to cast down those faulty imaginations – recognizing them for what they are, lies straight from the pit of hell. Help us to stay grounded in our trust in Your willingness and ability to fulfill every promise and every Word spoken. If You said it, You will do it!
Have you ever been in a Wait of Faith? How did God keep you encouraged, or refresh your weariness, during the waiting period. Please feel free to share below – your own experience might be just what someone else needs to hear today!
Does God ever speak to you in word-pictures? My prayer is that the humble paintings contained in my blog posts will speak something unique to your heart/spirit. I would be honored to know how they move or impact you.
PuttingHopeToWork 