How to Wait on God Part 5

After work on Tuesday I was scheduled to meet a new tutoring client. He was a nice young man. Smart. He understood the basic concepts but just needed practice applying his knowledge. I was able to encourage him and give him confidence about his skills.

After our time was up, I suggested he visit the website I created for our school’s calculus students and watch the videos I made. Before I could finish telling him the address, he said, “Oh, I have been using that website. It has been very helpful.”

As I walked back to my car, God revealed the fifth lesson:

“Melissa, you are already walking in your promised land. I promised you would “empower, impact, and impart this generation.” You are doing that on so many levels. Helping young people reach their dreams through the website is one of the ways you are impacting this generation. Empowering others through your writings is yet another. Yes, I have so much more for you. But don’t despise your small beginnings. This may not look like what you had envisioned but I’m right here with you. Celebrate where you are in the process.”

You know, technically, the Children of Israel entered the promised land the moment they crossed over the Jordan. But then it was years of battles conquering more and more of the promised land.

After crossing over, God told them to stop and memorialized what He had done. At that moment they had not conquered anything, there was still so much ground to take, so many victories to be won but God said stop, be thankful and celebrate this first victory.

I believe God was saying the same thing to me. Don’t wait until the war is won, be thankful and celebrate the small battles won along the way.

I would dare to guess, you have already entered your promised land as well. You have already begun to reap its fruit. But we must learn to celebrate and give thanks for small while we wait for the bigger picture to be revealed.

If you are waiting for a child to come back to the Lord, celebrate the time you spend together. They get to see the love of Jesus in you.

If you are waiting for your complete healing, celebrate days when you feel good.

If you are waiting on a spouse, celebrate time spent supporting a friend. That is practice to be a good partner.

If you are waiting for an open door, celebrate the opportunities to minister in the hallway.

Stop seeing what God has promised you as a destination. See it as a journey. A journey you began the moment you chose to believe it was possible. Everyday step deeper into the journey. Everyday stop and take note of what you and God accomplished and celebrate. Be thankful in the wait.

Brothers and sisters, I encourage you to take a moment today and look at all the battles you have won along the way. Even if the only battle won so far was choosing to believe rather than despair. Write them down. Celebrate them. Give thanks.

Don’t despise your small beginnings. It’s part of the process. God’s MO is to give us our promised land little by little. He doesn’t want to destroy us. Celebrate and be thankful for the “little” you accomplished today.

“The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, otherwise the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you.” Deuteronomy‬ ‭7:22‬ ‭NLT‬‬