**This is part of a series of posts that are a more in-depth look at a lesson I recently taught to a group of women in our church. To read the additional posts, you can easily access them by clicking on the links at the bottom of the page or in the body of this text. **
I've already shared with you that about three to four years ago, God gave me a vision that I wholeheartedly believe He will fulfill someday...in this life or in the life to come. Yet, at the time He clarified this vision in me, our physical lives looked nothing like it.
Since receiving this "plan" from Him, I have been content to wait upon His timing because of the confidence that it would one day transpire...even if I had to wait for Jesus' return. In the past, though, I would have constantly been looking for potential homes, properties or other opportunities to finagle my way into making God's plan happen in my timing...not His. I take no credit for the growth of my life in this area. It is completely His doing.
Every time the Vision has come to mind, I have been content to wait, or follow His leading. I like to call it "whispers and glimmers" of a hope from God's Spirit that one day, this Vision would become reality. I have always been thrilled to receive these little reminders or confirmations that He is still heading me down the path toward this Vision.
Such was the case in late October and early November 2013. Those little stirrings were coming up again and I followed the path I was certain He was laying out before me. Besides, it just made wonderfully perfect economic sense to buy a cheap home, even if it needed a lot of renovations, than to continue to pay up to two times the amount in rent every month.
So we started to do the usual things, like contact a realtor, look at a few properties and make inquiries into financing. We thought we were at a place in our lives when buying a house would be a viable option. To be honest, the homes we were looking at, even our realtor was scared to enter. But I have always believed, God can bring beauty out of any ashes.
Then the door was slammed shut. At least for another year or more.
Now...how I would normally respond to such news would be to spiral downward into a very dark place, consumed with my hyper-analytical spin on over-assessing my motives, my discernment of the Spirit's leading, not to mention the guilt and shame that would consume me in regards to past events that we had little to no control over. What does this look like? Well, it's not pretty, let me tell you. It would have been an obsessive tirade of questions like:
Did I misunderstand You?
Was this all just my imagination running wild?
Did I miss a sign?
Did I not follow You when You led in a different direction?
This could have gone on for months. And could ultimately lead to the question at the root of all the doubt:
Why did You dangle this "carrot" in front of me, only to yank it away when I thought it was just within my reach?
Resentment toward God could have very easily set in.
But...I believe...divinely timed while I was in the Beth Moore Bible study of Believing God...when I am being reminded every week to believe BIG, pray BIG and believe that "God is who He says He is and God will do what He says He can do"...upon receiving what could have been soul-crushing news...I spoke out loud to Him that I would not stop believing Him and I claimed that I knew the Vision He has for my life would one day become reality.
Within a few hours time, I had relayed the information to my husband and uncharacteristically did not regurgitate all of my mental processing out loud to him. I think he was a bit bewildered at only receiving the facts. Just a few minutes later, after he'd left the room, I sat alone with the Holy Spirit and again affirmed that I believed Him and the Vision He had given me.
What happened next are precious moments during which I can recall nothing physically that was taking place, but His Spirit was so close and so real that I remember every Word He whispered and every Hope He instilled.
First He reminded me of the verse He has repeatedly given to me in regards to this Vision. It has been taped on my bathroom mirror since at least August 2011. I have blogged about this verse (see Wait For It...Oh Snap! and A Heavy Heart) and have prayed it and claimed it time and time again. But just that week prior, Beth Moore had taught me to not only pray it, but speak it out loud. Because Scripture is the divinely inspired Word of God, to speak it out loud is to speak with His authority and power.
That night, I needed some Spirit-infused power.
I spoke the following out loud:
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay." (Habakkuk 2:3)
In the way that only He can do, that night He led me to notice all of the timing references. And then He reminded me that He dwells in the fullness of time. This is how the blood sacrifice of Jesus was once for all...past, present and future.
I've understood this..I think...for awhile. But that night, He made it real. What I knew He was speaking to my soul is this: When He thinks of me, or when He sees the Vision He has for my life, or in His "minds' eye"...honestly, I don't know what words to put on this idea because I am limited by words.
However you say it doesn't matter. What matters, is that for Him the Vision for my life is already done!
It's complete.
There is nothing more that needs added to it.
This hit me full on and I knew there was no going back. So once again, I claimed His promise and Vision out loud and said:
Okay...I believe You. For You the Vision is complete
And that's when the fun began...
Come back in a day or two to find out what He did next. It's not that I want to leave you hanging. It is just so BIG that to do it justice requires a few posts all its own.
**************************
For more in this series:
Part 1- God Still Gives Visions and Dreams
Part 2- This Life as We Know It...
I've already shared with you that about three to four years ago, God gave me a vision that I wholeheartedly believe He will fulfill someday...in this life or in the life to come. Yet, at the time He clarified this vision in me, our physical lives looked nothing like it.
Since receiving this "plan" from Him, I have been content to wait upon His timing because of the confidence that it would one day transpire...even if I had to wait for Jesus' return. In the past, though, I would have constantly been looking for potential homes, properties or other opportunities to finagle my way into making God's plan happen in my timing...not His. I take no credit for the growth of my life in this area. It is completely His doing.
Every time the Vision has come to mind, I have been content to wait, or follow His leading. I like to call it "whispers and glimmers" of a hope from God's Spirit that one day, this Vision would become reality. I have always been thrilled to receive these little reminders or confirmations that He is still heading me down the path toward this Vision.
Such was the case in late October and early November 2013. Those little stirrings were coming up again and I followed the path I was certain He was laying out before me. Besides, it just made wonderfully perfect economic sense to buy a cheap home, even if it needed a lot of renovations, than to continue to pay up to two times the amount in rent every month.
So we started to do the usual things, like contact a realtor, look at a few properties and make inquiries into financing. We thought we were at a place in our lives when buying a house would be a viable option. To be honest, the homes we were looking at, even our realtor was scared to enter. But I have always believed, God can bring beauty out of any ashes.
Then the door was slammed shut. At least for another year or more.
Now...how I would normally respond to such news would be to spiral downward into a very dark place, consumed with my hyper-analytical spin on over-assessing my motives, my discernment of the Spirit's leading, not to mention the guilt and shame that would consume me in regards to past events that we had little to no control over. What does this look like? Well, it's not pretty, let me tell you. It would have been an obsessive tirade of questions like:
Did I misunderstand You?
Was this all just my imagination running wild?
Did I miss a sign?
Did I not follow You when You led in a different direction?
This could have gone on for months. And could ultimately lead to the question at the root of all the doubt:
Why did You dangle this "carrot" in front of me, only to yank it away when I thought it was just within my reach?
Resentment toward God could have very easily set in.
But...I believe...divinely timed while I was in the Beth Moore Bible study of Believing God...when I am being reminded every week to believe BIG, pray BIG and believe that "God is who He says He is and God will do what He says He can do"...upon receiving what could have been soul-crushing news...I spoke out loud to Him that I would not stop believing Him and I claimed that I knew the Vision He has for my life would one day become reality.
Within a few hours time, I had relayed the information to my husband and uncharacteristically did not regurgitate all of my mental processing out loud to him. I think he was a bit bewildered at only receiving the facts. Just a few minutes later, after he'd left the room, I sat alone with the Holy Spirit and again affirmed that I believed Him and the Vision He had given me.
What happened next are precious moments during which I can recall nothing physically that was taking place, but His Spirit was so close and so real that I remember every Word He whispered and every Hope He instilled.
First He reminded me of the verse He has repeatedly given to me in regards to this Vision. It has been taped on my bathroom mirror since at least August 2011. I have blogged about this verse (see Wait For It...Oh Snap! and A Heavy Heart) and have prayed it and claimed it time and time again. But just that week prior, Beth Moore had taught me to not only pray it, but speak it out loud. Because Scripture is the divinely inspired Word of God, to speak it out loud is to speak with His authority and power.
That night, I needed some Spirit-infused power.
I spoke the following out loud:
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay." (Habakkuk 2:3)
In the way that only He can do, that night He led me to notice all of the timing references. And then He reminded me that He dwells in the fullness of time. This is how the blood sacrifice of Jesus was once for all...past, present and future.
I've understood this..I think...for awhile. But that night, He made it real. What I knew He was speaking to my soul is this: When He thinks of me, or when He sees the Vision He has for my life, or in His "minds' eye"...honestly, I don't know what words to put on this idea because I am limited by words.
However you say it doesn't matter. What matters, is that for Him the Vision for my life is already done!
It's complete.
There is nothing more that needs added to it.
This hit me full on and I knew there was no going back. So once again, I claimed His promise and Vision out loud and said:
Okay...I believe You. For You the Vision is complete
And that's when the fun began...
Come back in a day or two to find out what He did next. It's not that I want to leave you hanging. It is just so BIG that to do it justice requires a few posts all its own.
**************************
For more in this series:
Part 1- God Still Gives Visions and Dreams
Part 2- This Life as We Know It...
No comments:
Post a Comment