I recently had it pointed out to me that, before they began their calling from the Lord, many of our great 'heroes of the faith' began their ministry in a time of waiting. John the Baptist spent the majority of his life in the wilderness waiting and "preparing the way of the Lord." Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness before he ever called his first disciple. The apostle Paul spent time in the desert of Arabia before he carried the Gospel to the Gentiles.
I'm not much for waiting- or for being patient really-, but for what seems the first time ever, I can see how important it is to be engaged in the present. I've caught glimpses of things that are yet to come in my life, in terms of ministry, but with at least 8 months left before the next big step, I'm caught in a time of waiting. It's so tempting to want to switch to autopilot and coast through that time until I get to something new, but I need this time. In a way, I feel like I'm in a desert place much like Paul, Jesus, and John. This place where I am being held down long enough to have my heart rate slow and my vision focus.
Quite frankly, God cares more for the state of my heart than He does my circumstances. So, I am resigning to no longer pray for a change in my physical circumstance, or for a fast-forward through them, but for God to use this precious desert time to pull the blinders off my heart and to engage me in what He's got going on now.
