Trust the Process

Midway through last year we were faced with some serious moments that truly shook our faith. From a job loss, vehicle failure, our washing machine breaking. It took some serious moments of faith and believing in God for something I couldn’t begin to see, and some things I still can’t see in the natural, but I choose to trust Him despite it all. God is still in control. He has been so faithful. 

One of the trials many didn’t know about involved my children. By the end of last year, I felt extremely defeated with homeschooling. Between working, owning a business, and homeschooling I was exhausted in every single avenue of my life. I didn’t have a single off day for over a year. Burning the candle at both ends was an understatement. 

 Over the summer I looked into private education, schoolhouse style education, and ultimately made up my mind that homeschooling was what I was choosing to do again, except this year I was going to do it completely differently than I ever had before.  I spent a ridiculous amount of time getting everything ready. The Lord gave me a promise that He would provide the funds for their schooling. I felt this could be the missing link. 

Pastor had been speaking about expectations and how we serve a mighty God who not only provides our needs, but he cares about the things we care about too. The Lord was showing me there is victory when we are all in for Him and being obedient to what He wants. 

As the very end of July came around, I felt the Lord drop in my spirit to “put them in school.” I rebuked the devil, and the Lord reminded me of the visions He had given me when I first moved here from GA pertaining to the schools. This isn’t what I wanted at all. I didn’t even look at that as an option because I was so staunchly against it.

 I tried to get out of it. I continued to thank Him for supplying all my homeschool needs, and he kept reminding me of what He spoke. I finally submitted to Him and received counsel to make sure I was hearing clearly. 

Ultimately, I obeyed God. Immediately after I agreed, money came in that was more than enough to buy all their required supplies. His promise was fulfilled, it just didn’t look how I expected it to. 

My kids cried for the first month, but then something incredible happened. Speech improved, handwriting improved, social interactions improved. They were accountable, and I noticed so many issues naturally resolved in their lives. For my family, I could see why this was something the Lord told me to do. 

Within two months, the Lord kept guiding me to work there, and as soon as I was obedient, the door opened up for me... 

I am reminded of Joseph. There were seasons he didn’t want at all, but God was with him through it all.  He was thrown in a pit, then he was sold as a slave, only to be falsely accused, to be thrown in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Sometimes we catch a small glimpse of the vision that God has spoken into our lives, and we want to run unhindered straight into it without the process. 

Over 7 years ago the Lord started showing Drew and I about missions. Dream after dream of unreached people would flood over us. We would weep in the floor over them. We haven’t even begun to step into it, but we are in the process of becoming who God created us to be, so we can step into what he’s called us to, in HIS timing. 

There is a season and a process that each one has to go through. There are no shortcuts. God allowed Joseph to be rejected by his brothers, thrown in a pit, and sold as a slave so He could get him to the land that would later sustain the very brothers who betrayed Him. The pruning that was needed to allow him to be a humble vessel, that later brought him to an extraordinary place of favor in the land of Egypt, but he had to endure the process. The vision God gave wasn’t wrapped in the pretty package Joseph expected, but it was necessary to get him where God needed him to be for a time such as that. 

 If Joseph went from the pit to the palace, he would not have learned the lessons along the way that he did.

Many of us get this glimpse of what God has placed inside of us and expect it to come to fruition overnight. We get discouraged when we don’t see it happening within our timing. Faith is praising God when you don’t see anything but thanking Him for what he’s going to do. It never makes sense in the natural, but you have to simply trust God and believe what He has said. 

 As much as I would have loved to go into the foreign lands 7 years ago, I wasn’t ready. I needed deliverance, accountability, correction, and I needed to see love without hypocrisy modeled before me. I needed to be taught His word by people who truly practice what they preach. I was severely wounded then and would have given people what I carried at that time. Which would have ultimately hurt them. 

People don’t need our opinions. They need Jesus. Sometimes at the moment we can’t see why God is taking us down a path we don’t want, but hindsight is always 20/20. We are able to clearly see God's hand in the areas that seemed so unbearable at the time. 

I want to encourage you, with Romans 8:18. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is revealed to us.” He wants us to carry His glory to broken people who don’t know Him yet. The purpose for your life isn’t for you, but for others. We are to die to us and be like Jesus. 

Think about this, even in the prison Joseph used the giftings God gave him to interpret dreams for others, that would prepare him to interpret Pharaoh's dream in his hour of need. I am in a mission field now preparing me for a mission field later. 

What has God set before you in this season to do? It may seem so insignificant, but I want to encourage you, trust His plans. We see a small little step, but he sees the full picture. Let this be the year we radically obey Jesus. Trust the process.