Or, Grit…chapter 2.
Don’t stop praying for that thing you’re tempted to give up on.
The Lord doesn’t put good desires in your heart to tease you, but to show you where you’re going. Intercede for someone else while you wait, and use this time to bring life elsewhere, too.
Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.
— Proverbs 11:25
He’s not impatient or annoyed by you constantly asking Him if you’re doing it right. He’s not shaking His head and tsk-ing, wishing you’d get your act together and stop bugging Him. He’s a good, good Father. He loves your heart that continues to press forward in obedience and surrender, especially when you don’t know what it’s exactly supposed to look like or how things will turn out.
You can trust Him to tell you what you need to know when you ask. And you can trust Him to give you what you need when you ask, too.
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
— Luke 11:10-13
The Lord is still shining on your situation. It might seem like it’s taking too long and you’ve almost given up hoping and praying and watering and expecting, but your answer is on the cusp of blooming. Do not cut it down too early. Don’t give up on tending it. He is putting things in order, and answers, solutions, and breakthrough might start unfolding faster than you can believe.
Maybe you thought you would be further by now. You’ve been in bud for so long, just waiting and waiting, almost to the point you’ve wondered if you’re running out of time. What if there’s not enough summer left? What if winter comes too soon? And why does it even matter, if by all rights you should’ve been in full bloom eons ago, and here you still are, waiting?
Are you just bad at blooming? No.
Are you destined to stay folded up and hidden? No.
Is it God’s will for you to be unhappy, because He loves you very much and has a miserable plan for your life? No.
You are not too late. You’re not bad at this. God has joy ahead that would make you laugh at your concerns if you could see it right now.
It feels dark, frustrating, and unrewarding out there some days. You work and work and work and wait, and hope a little, and look…but nope, it’s not there yet, so you start all over again, still not seeing the fruit of your labors.
But something’s happening underneath. It really is. We’ll see it soon. Hang in there.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
— 1 Corinthians 15:57-58
This is chapter 2 of Grit: Kindling to Relight the Wounded and Weary.
