“Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. We are persecuted…but not forsaken. We may be knocked down, but not out.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 TPT
Sometimes what we see as a failure is the very step God uses to propel us into the direction he has had for us all along. I’ve had to dust myself off a few too many times for my liking. I have experienced often the wrestling match in my mind of “Doubt vs Faith”. I admit it I’m prone to negativity. It seeps into my heart when the wait is longer than I expected. I don’t always have answers. Nor did Joseph, I suppose. I wonder what went through his mind as he was tossed into a pit and sold as a slave, just after receiving a vision from God that he would be a ruler. How did he stay in the fight when his circumstances appeared so bleak?
I have had a vision on my heart for quite some time now. I doubted it away, cried disappointed tears, and let fear cause me to run. But, something in me just can’t give up. I keep coming back for more. There is a deep knowing in me, a whisper in my spirit that just won’t let me quit.
The truth is we have been made for more and when the transformation takes longer than expected, our hearts cry out with a longing to see it come to pass. No matter how long it takes, don’t let the enemy rob you of your promise. Joseph didn’t. It took longer than Joseph expected I’m sure. I’m confident, though, that when Joseph looked back he could see how the pit transformed him into the ruler he became. Without the pit, he wouldn’t have had the character to sustain the position God had for him.
Whatever God has spoken in your heart will come to pass. Stay faithful to his Word, putting one wobbly step in front of the other. Because one thing I am sure of is what I experienced as my greatest failure, lead me to the source of my greatest victory.
It’s a very long story, but I’ll simplify it by saying, I thought the dream God had put on my heart was just mine to pursue, but God helped me to see it was never meant to be just my vision, it was my families’ too.
He had some work to do, in order to make the dream a possibility. He healed my marriage, he healed my family and cemented us together through the pain. I am in awe of how he took one dream away but then gave me so much more in return. My husband and I are now a united front, serving alongside each other, battling together and ready for what God has next!
Don’t give up! Dust yourself off sister and arise stronger than ever. God will use what didn’t work out to paint a clearer picture of what will!
Be Bold ~ Be a Light