New Dream - Part 2

Most of us hate to wait. In today's culture we have instant everything. A friend of mine told me he was helping his young son make popcorn in the microwave. As the timer was ticking down his son looked up at him and said "Daddy, why does it take so long?" Microwave popcorn! We hate to wait.

Kids can't wait for Christmas to get here. Adults can't wait for Friday to get here. And none of us can wait when it's a new Ipad, Google phone, 3-D TV, new car... and the list goes on. But one thing I've learned is that when God gives us a dream there's always a waiting period - ALWAYS!

I admit I hate to wait on the things I just mentioned. But I love waiting on God when it comes to His dreams for my life, and here's why. Every time God has given me a dream, it's always been something bigger than myself. Something that there's know way I could accomplish on my own. That's what makes it a God-given dream. I love the waiting periods because I grow by leaps and bounds during those times.

Several years ago God began to give me a vision for our church. I was not the Lead Pastor at the time and the church was going through a very unhealthy period, one of many unhealthy periods in our history. But God began to show me what could happen if we got healthy again and allowed God to use us for His purposes. Many of the things that are happening in our church today were a part of that original dream almost ten years ago. But getting that dream and making a decision to go after it was followed by a three year waiting period for me.

Looking back on those three years I can see how God grew me in ways that I never would have grown otherwise. And that growth prepared me to be the leader I was eventually going to have to be.

I learned to loosen my grip on things that I was trusting in rather than trusting in God. I learned how to be patient with people who didn't like change and were grieving because of changes. I learned to delegate so that I could stay focused. And I learned that God's ways of doing things are sometimes different from how I would do them - and His ways are always better.

So when I find myself in God's waiting room, I have choice, and so do you.

I can choose to complain, like the Israelites did in the desert. "God why are you moving so slow? I want to get there now!" I seem to recall every time the Israelites got impatient they took matters into their own hands, messed up big time, and it was another lap around Mt. Sinai.

Or I can choose to enjoy the ride knowing that God is getting me ready for something that only He can do. Regardless of our choice, we're still going to wait because God is God and we're not.

Two of my life verses are Jeremiah 29:11 and Habakkuk 2:3:
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

"These things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled."