How bad do you want to fulfill your destiny?
This week is a real important milestone in my family’s life. Nine years ago, Dan and I put everything we could fit in our car to move across country from family and everything we held dear. I was only a few weeks pregnant with our oldest daughter, and I puked part of the way here. Why do you ask we left? It was because I heard God tell me where we needed to move. So we did. Next to asking Jesus in my heart and marrying my husband, this choice still stands as one of the more defining moments in my life.
In those nine years, we have been through a battle to stay where we know God has wanted us. For four years we lived an hour from our church and most Sunday afternoons you would find myself, my husband and oldest daughter picnicking in the back building of church and napping there because it was too far to travel twice in one day. For about a year and a half my husband had several jobs, the work would run out, and he would have to find another. I have testimony after testimony of our time here. Repeatedly we faced struggles to get us outside of where we knew God wanted us, and time and time again, we had to choose to stay planted in the will of God. I do not say all these things to puff ourselves up. We have not been perfect, but we chose to step out of the boat and God has met us on the water over and over again. He has been faithful.
I heard TD Jakes preach a while ago about getting olive oil out of an olive. That olive has to be pressed and squeezed. That in order for the olive oil to come out that olive has to give up everything. Any successful person will tell you that you do not get to success overnight. But it takes time, and patience. It takes persistence. In order for a solider to get decorated as a soldier he/she must first got through warfare.
Prior to that fateful decision nine years ago, I just kind of thought that things were going to happen right away. I never thought of the cost involved. Luke 14:28 says, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—” I was that person. But after beginning the “tower”, numerous times I have had to ask myself what am I doing? Is this all worth it? The answer is yes it is. Luke 18:1-3 talks about a persistent widow. Her persistence pays off. And the judge in that story is not even a just judge. How much more is God going to bless you because He is just and He loves you! He sees your tears. He sees your heartache. He sees the cost you have paid to fulfill what He has for you. It is so worth it folks. Psalm 30:5b says, “Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”
People we must start thinking eternally, and not just what we can see in the moment. We must stop making or thinking that our circumstance right now will last a lifetime. Take your eyes off your circumstance and put them on Jesus. Realize that God moves in times and seasons, and He knows what He is doing. Daniel 2:21 says, “And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.” Understand today that God is a good God, who wants you to get to your destiny more than you do. He desires for you to fulfill the very thing He created for you. The idea of Him seeing you do just that, makes him giddily excited.
As I enter this week as the official beginning of my ninth year here, I am excited. It has not been easy, but God has been faithful! Psalm 126:5 says, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” I have not arrived completely yet, but God is faithful. I believe there is some reaping in joy that is about to wash over the church as a whole, and God is about to do such a great thing. Whatever your going through, whatever the circumstance figure out what God wants, and stay firmly planted there. Be excited saints, God is not done yet. He is on the throne.
In those nine years, we have been through a battle to stay where we know God has wanted us. For four years we lived an hour from our church and most Sunday afternoons you would find myself, my husband and oldest daughter picnicking in the back building of church and napping there because it was too far to travel twice in one day. For about a year and a half my husband had several jobs, the work would run out, and he would have to find another. I have testimony after testimony of our time here. Repeatedly we faced struggles to get us outside of where we knew God wanted us, and time and time again, we had to choose to stay planted in the will of God. I do not say all these things to puff ourselves up. We have not been perfect, but we chose to step out of the boat and God has met us on the water over and over again. He has been faithful.
I heard TD Jakes preach a while ago about getting olive oil out of an olive. That olive has to be pressed and squeezed. That in order for the olive oil to come out that olive has to give up everything. Any successful person will tell you that you do not get to success overnight. But it takes time, and patience. It takes persistence. In order for a solider to get decorated as a soldier he/she must first got through warfare.
Prior to that fateful decision nine years ago, I just kind of thought that things were going to happen right away. I never thought of the cost involved. Luke 14:28 says, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—” I was that person. But after beginning the “tower”, numerous times I have had to ask myself what am I doing? Is this all worth it? The answer is yes it is. Luke 18:1-3 talks about a persistent widow. Her persistence pays off. And the judge in that story is not even a just judge. How much more is God going to bless you because He is just and He loves you! He sees your tears. He sees your heartache. He sees the cost you have paid to fulfill what He has for you. It is so worth it folks. Psalm 30:5b says, “Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”
People we must start thinking eternally, and not just what we can see in the moment. We must stop making or thinking that our circumstance right now will last a lifetime. Take your eyes off your circumstance and put them on Jesus. Realize that God moves in times and seasons, and He knows what He is doing. Daniel 2:21 says, “And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.” Understand today that God is a good God, who wants you to get to your destiny more than you do. He desires for you to fulfill the very thing He created for you. The idea of Him seeing you do just that, makes him giddily excited.
As I enter this week as the official beginning of my ninth year here, I am excited. It has not been easy, but God has been faithful! Psalm 126:5 says, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” I have not arrived completely yet, but God is faithful. I believe there is some reaping in joy that is about to wash over the church as a whole, and God is about to do such a great thing. Whatever your going through, whatever the circumstance figure out what God wants, and stay firmly planted there. Be excited saints, God is not done yet. He is on the throne.
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