In January of 2014 God gave me a word that I was moving from the narrow place to wide open spaces. I thought that because that was my word for 2014 that by the end of the year I would be in my wide open space. Well, 2014 came and went and was an interesting year. 2015 came and went. 2016 came, rolled over me like a bulldozer, and went. Here I am still stuck in transition. It's as if I've been camping out in a hallway for 3 years. However, as I was praying and listening for what the Lord would speak to me about 2017, the word he gave me was "progression."
Now to be clear, right now my life seems to be the opposite of progressing. I've spent a lot of time in the last year grieving dreams lost and struggling to feel like myself - the person God created me to be. And yet, it the midst of it all, God continually reminds me of Isaiah 49 as a promise to me that the calling and purpose for my life are still progressing. Right now it may seem like I have spent my strength in vain (Is. 49:4) but in time I will look up from my bereavement to find myself surrounded by the harvest I thought I had lost. Then, like Israel in Isaiah 49:21 I will say, "Who bore me these? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up? I was left all alone, but these - where have they come from?" (NIV).
I have seen in my life that often what seems like crisis and retreat is merely the battering ram being pulled back only to be forcefully pushed forward into breakthrough. God has very clearly said that what I am experiencing right now is not a crisis but an opportunity. If you're feeling stuck in transition you are not alone. Right now we have the opportunity to believe what God has said rather than what we see with our natural eyes. We have the opportunity to dream in the face of disappointment. Hope in the face of grief. And move into the future where our wide open spaces are waiting.
