James 5: 7/8 Therefore be patient, brethren, until
the coming of the Lord. See how
the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it
until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You
also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
As I read this over and over my heart seem
to press down on the “early and late rains” that would come and it hit me, what about the
time period in the middle when nothing seems to be coming? I have been in seasons of my life when I
literally thought God had forgotten I even existed and l truly had given up on ever
hearing His voice or chasing my dreams.
I would read my bible, pray, and seek His guidance and still nothing
seem to be happen and then out of nowhere God would pour out His direction or bring some type of healing.
It was always just what I needed in that moment. I thought about the farmer and how he had to
sweat and plow and work for hours when he knew that nothing was going to happen
that evening or even the following day.
We want instant results and yet God has called us to wait
patiently. Last week I was in one of
those I want to clean out all the closets and wash all my clothes/blankets
moods. I literally gathered up 8 loads
of stuff from blankets, to towels to sheets and all our dirty clothes and
decided to take them to the laundry mat.
I think I was more excited about sitting and just waiting in the
quietness of my car. I had just come off
an incredible week and my heart was so full and the thought of getting
uninterrupted time with my Creator made my heart skip a beat. It didn’t go down quite like I had planned. As
I loaded all of the clothes and added laundry detergent and adjusted the
settings my back had sweat running down.
I couldn’t just put them all in a row NOOOOO I had a few here, one there
and a few on another row and I would forget where I was and have to open like
10. I was so flustered that I decided to
not sit in the coolness of my air conditioned car but instead I would enjoy the
BRAND NEW dollar tree store that had just opened up down the road. I went in and killed literally 45 minutes
doing nothing. I went back to the
laundry mat and as I began to change over my clothes from the washers to the
dryers I was so disappointed that I didn’t take advantage of that time in
between the loads and then it hit me. God knows my hearts desires and my
struggles. He placed within me a passion,
He hears the depths of my cries when I am in a season of dryness, He knows my
finances, He knows my desire to overcome food addiction and yet instead of
handing over all of those at one time I hand Him one at a time thinking it’s
too much for him to handle. I stood
there looking at these massive washing machines and all at once I was able to
clean all I had brought. I was able to
accomplish 8 loads of laundry AT ONE TIME!
The farmer doesn’t choose a crop
to nurture and hope that when the rain comes only that particular fruit or vegetable
will grow instead he gives all he has to every single crop in his fields. In our minds it’s a never ending cycle of not
getting what we want and waiting while we hurt in a season and we desperately need a touch from
our Creator. Waiting patiently means
you trust Him no matter what as you diligently prepare your fields. If you are dreaming of doing something then
you pray and use your gifts where you are and allow the bloom to happen in His
timing. If you desperately need His
touch of healing in your marriage, finances, past scars or even lost and broken
dreams you have to keep pushing through because the rains are coming and you don't want your fields to be unprepared. When dryness happens it’s an opportunity to
press into the heart with such intensity that His love being poured over you is
the very thing that sustains you. In 1 Peter 5:7 it says… casting ALL your cares upon Him, for He cares for you. I love that it says ALL your cares. God wants
all your “laundry” at one time. This
includes your struggles, your dreams, your fears and all the other areas of
your heart that keeps you from waiting with expectancy and patience. God wants to do amazing things in you and
through you! Its time to let go and allow Him to do some cleaning out and
preparing of your heart for the rains to flood you like never before!
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