He Knows (Part 2)

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“Are we there yet?”

It’s the question that makes every parent throw their head back and roll their eyes.  It’s the question that we start asking when we are old enough to talk, and it grows to become a disturbingly bad habit when we’re older.  I don’t think I’ve ever outgrown this question.

I’ve stubbornly grown up thinking any wait I had to endure was painful.  Expectations form in my imagination as I fantasize about what things will look like and how I want them to be.  Scenarios of all the things my heart wants but I’m afraid to admit play in my head.  I’m guilty of it.  I’m guilty of dreaming about the end destination before I actually get there.  I keep looking to an end goal I think I need to achieve to be satisfied.  I strain my focus on the place I want to be instead of paying attention to the road that’s taking me to where I need to be.  I don’t like the in-between.

You can imagine my disappointment when I shortly figured out that life doesn’t work that way.  I can’t snap a finger, and I can’t make things look how I want them to look. That never stops me from hoping.

It was fall semester of last year, and I was a new transfer student at the University of Florida looking for any way to get involved.  I signed up for every club I heard about and interviewed for every position I qualified for.  You know how many of those positions I applied for that I got?  None.  Not a single one.  (I also learned the hard lesson of being told “no,” which I didn’t enjoy too much; but I’ll save that for another time).

Everything I thought would have happened when I moved to Gainesville wasn’t happening.  My fantasies failed me.  My expectations failed me.  I failed me.  I grew increasingly frustrated at myself and at God because it wasn’t looking how I wanted it to.  I came here to make a big difference on campus and live out my purpose, not do nothing.  What did this mean?!  I wanted to run as fast as I could from the in-between.  I didn’t want to go through any more interviews, awkward conversations or loneliness.  I wanted the end destination: to fit in and to thrive.  I wanted to do more than just survive, which I felt I was barely doing in the moment.

I heard these words as my heart sank: “Be still.”  It’s hard when I crave specific answers and don’t hear what I thought would satisfy me.

This is what I heard every time I prayed, and they became the words that got me off my feet and on my knees.

What I failed to realize is that I need that in-between.  I need the restful place.  When my outside environment is chaotic and I’m cornered in circumstances I can’t control, I can find rest in the One who has the power to control it.

I can’t get to the beautiful destination without the drive there.  And sometimes that drive is TOUGH.  We get tired, our tires blow out, gas runs low and we feel lost.  This is when we need to pull out our map and look at the One who gives us the directions.  The One who can fill us and satisfy us with everything we need.  All it takes is for us to turn our eyes off our ourselves and turn them onto Him- our map.

I learned that being still doesn’t have anything to do with what feels like a punishment for me.  It has everything to do with turning my focus off of my circumstances and onto the living Truth that has all the answers I’ll ever need.  It has everything to do with pushing aside my fantasized expectations and laying them all down at the feet of the One who knows me and has plans for me.

God is preparing you for what He’s prepared for you.

When the drive seems a little longer than expected and maybe you don’t even know where you’re driving to, rest in knowing God hasn’t failed you yet, and He won’t start now.  Read about the things He promises us in His Word, and know that He hasn’t forgotten about you.  Seek His truth; seek His promises; and seek Him.  He’s setting you aside to prepare you for something extra special. The wait just means it’s going to be so s-w-e-e-t!

I still ask, “Are we there yet?”  But maybe this time with a little more of a smile and a lot more excitement as I’m preparing for that destination.  I know that if I’m waiting, something good is around that corner.  God’s preparing me, and He’s preparing you.  We just have to wait for it.

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14

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This was the second part of my series titled “He Knows.”  Read the first one here , and check back next Wednesday to read part three!

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