Greetings!
Summer is coming to an end and it is time for the kiddos to head back to school. Where has the time gone? All good things do come to an end, even when we don’t want them to.
Summer is quite busy for us. We have celebrated five birthdays out of the six of us and one of them was my daughter turning 16. She now has driver’s license! She is excited but we are worried about experience and navigating her way. She is ready to get out there and drive long distance but we want to keep her local in order to get more experience.
Often times ministry is the same way. We want to be used by God and do things for Christ, but we want to go straight to the stage. There is a preparation time before the Lord uses us publicly. We must be trained to be prepared to operate in the ministry. Often times this training happens in obscurity. We often will labor in ministry and not see the obvious rewards. But we must be faithful in the small things before God will use us publicly.
I heard a pastor say recently that God cannot fully bless a man until He has fully conquered him. In the training God has to break us and our will, so that we will submit to His will and instruction. Some of us are going to greater heights and deeper depths but we can’t handle that in our present state. The Lord has to fashion us into His likeness. We have to do God’s will God’s way. We have to be trained to do God’s will God’s way. Much like the story of Joseph. Joseph had to go to the pit and the prison before he could handle the palace.
My husband and I are walking the training path right now. It takes a lot of prayer, self-denial and faith. But in the end, we know that God will make us a better version of ourselves because we are more like Him.
If you are laboring for the Lord and are feeling discouraged, just remember that this is not our home. We will not see all the rewards of our labors here on earth. What God wants if for us to be faithful to Him. When we make it to heaven, we will reap a harvest if we faint not.
Until next time,
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