Waiting on the Vision
I remember sitting in the middle of the gallery on a quiet fall Saturday. I was talking with my friend about all the Lord was doing in our lives: how I knew He was moving but it felt hard, how our jobs were changing, how I was being able to pour into the young women I was working with. I felt like I was just catching her up on life at the time from my discouragement about waiting for all the big moves coming but lighting up with excitement when I talked about how I could see Him tangibly at work. She sat there, quietly, listening. Sure, there was some dialogue, but I remember her looking at me in wonder. I wondered why. When I came to a stopping point in the processing and, let’s be honest, venting, she said, “You speak with such maturity. You should write a book.” I knew she was serious, but I in no way thought that was in the plan for me. I laughed it off and said, “Yeah, ok…” being sure to soak it in sarcasm.
When we left that day, I couldn’t get it off my mind, and I tried. I thought I just needed to talk about it and process it with my husband, and when I mentioned it to him, he asked me why I was so quick to dismiss it. He asked me why I didn’t think I could, and all the while, he was giving me this smirk. It was a smirk that said, “This is what you were made for.” Because this was now the second trusted advisor to reassure me, I began to really think about it, pray about it, and no matter what I tried (because I still so reluctant), I couldn’t quite get it out of my head or my heart.
I finally surrendered to the idea of being an author and a speaker. To be honest, it was what I always wanted to do, but it always seemed so far out of reach despite the fact that I was gifted in those areas. But God gives us people to speak truth into our lives when we need fresh vision. That day, I caught God’s vision for my future…I thought. See, it wasn’t that I was wrong or that God didn’t have that in store for me, but it just wasn’t going to take the path I thought it should.
When I made up my mind that I would follow this course that the Lord set me on, I ran full steam ahead, thinking that these things would just begin to happen. They didn’t. I thought I was doing all the things wrong. I thought I might have just decided that this deal sounded fun, so obviously it was God’s plan. I prayed. I cried. I pressed in. I stopped; stuck. I felt like I was just spinning my wheels toward no real end goal. Again, all the things felt unattainable.
In the middle of the wrestling in prayer, God reminded me that things happen in HIS time, not mine. He reminded me that He was at work, even when I couldn’t feel it or when I didn’t see the evidence of what he was doing behind the scenes. He gave me verses to cling to, to declare His word and encourage me.
“And the Lord answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end-it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”
Habakkuk 2:2-3
When God calls you out for a purpose, he will make sure that it is complete. He will work all the missing pieces together so that He accomplishes what He set out to do in us and through us. Our job is to be faithful regardless of what we feel.
Are you in a waiting season? The vision He gave you is not in vain, but it may not be time to debut quite yet. Be faithful in the waiting.