Skip to content Menu
Women With Destiny

Women With Destiny

YOU DIDN'T CHOOSE ME! I CHOSE YOU… TO GO & PRODUCE FRUIT ALWAYS

Sidebar
  • You Are Priceless and Irreplaceable!
  • Home
  • Battlefield Jesus
  • Suffering & Grace
  • What’s That You’re Carrying?

Waiting In The School Called: PREPARATION

by womenwithdestinyPosted on December 6, 2017

When God calls us to something, especially to something with great import, it is not unusual to be many years in His School of Preparation.

I remember when I was young in my faith. I believed that all I needed to do was pray a sincere prayer and then step back and watch God bring it to pass. I expected things to manifest quickly. But I have discovered that some of the things we ask for— after receiving God’s yes—by necessity put into motion a training regimen that will require many long years of preparation. And, it is in this long and drawn out process that we may be tempted to give up our hopes, (and our waiting) believing that God has changed His mind about using us… or that we have mistaken His calling.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

We must remember that God reserves the right to use whatever means necessary—and take as long as He likes, until He deems us ready to undertake our calling.

When I sincerely prayed, “LORD, I want to be a wound dresser.” I was still a baby in the faith and my understanding of how things actually worked in this upside-down-kingdom I was partnering in.

My prayer was honest and sincere but I had no knowledge of the magnitude of my request.

I thought I was asking for a small thing—a lowly task—and one that was relatively simple to do.

What I didn’t understand then—is just how difficult it is to do a small and lowly thing in God’s Kingdom—and what He requires from me to pull that off with authenticity! I didn’t realize the amount of “unlearning” that would be necessary to go from my worldly thinking, to my professional-religious thinking, and from there to His upside-down-kingdom thinking.

Let me illustrate with 2 Corinthians 9:8.

When I first read this verse, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” I read that verse and thought in terms of tangible things, like money, or material needs, or people to help me do the work. Since God is rich and powerful, I thought that verse meant He wanted me to be rich and powerful too, because I thought that was what I would need to get things done.

But that is not what happened to make me “fit and abounding” for my calling.

Quite the opposite happened!

For the next twenty years I walked through crisis after crisis, and loss after loss, and sometimes more than once.

I became desperately ill. I lost my job. I lost my independence. I lost my home. I lost my business. People I loved and trusted betrayed me; condemned me; mercilessly criticized and slandered me.

Trust me, the last thing I believed about myself, was that I was rich and “abounding in grace!”

…But wait a minute,

Let’s remember what I asked God to do and what the longing of my heart was way back in the beginning.

I wanted to dress wounds.

I wanted to bandage broken hearts—and not in a superficial religious way. I wanted to encourage the downcast and despairing down in the dark pits where they really live. I wanted people with broken lives and broken dreams to believe that Jesus is the answer to their every hurt.

Can you do that with empathy and real understanding and live a pain free existence?

I don’t think so—not anymore.

Did God answer my prayer?

Absolutely—just not in ways I expected or liked!

Instead, He answered my request with the training, and the traumas, and the experience I would need for my calling.

He answered my prayer with wounding after wounding.

Now today I KNOW with an absolute certainty,

“God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

Let me close this post with this quote by Marilyn Heavilin. I think she sums it up best:

A few years ago someone asked me if my faith has changed since I’ve lost my three boys. I thought on that question for awhile. Actually I think my faith has been altered since my boys died. My faith is no longer “sugar coated.” I have a greater respect for God and His sovereignty than I ever had before. I have a deeper faith now, but I also realize that God very likely has different plans for my life than I have. I know that God answers some of my prayers with a “no.” He answers some with “yes,” some with “wait a while,” and some simply with “Trust Me.” I think the “Trust Me.” ones are the hardest…. How thankful I am that God does know where He’s taking each one of us, even when all we can do is trust.


Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.   2 Timothy 2: 1-3 KJV

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in STILL I SHALL FOLLOWTagged broken, Chelsea Moon & Franz Brothers, crisis, endurance, faith, Hillary Scott, perseverance, preparation, school, Still, trauma, Trust and Obey, waiting, woundresser, wounds

Published by womenwithdestiny

I am a passionate follower of Jesus Christ with an equally passionate belief that every woman who chooses to follow Jesus has been destined for greatness in His Kingdom. He chose YOU to change the world and you have everything you need IN HIM to do it! View all posts by womenwithdestiny

Post navigation

Prev Giving Thanks This Yuletide
Next Never Losing The Light: Bearing With Injustice

My TOP 10 FAVORITE Posts:

  • Home Page
  • Dancing In The Deep
  • Here I Am God!
  • You’ve Got This Mighty Warrior!
  • Waiting On Your Promise
  • J ~ Jump!
  • Z ~ Zoe!
  • Delight, Desires, and Destiny
  • Daughter of The MOST HIGH God
  • Max Lucado: Tender Words

Copyright © 2016 – 2021 Martha Gibbons (Molly). All rights reserved.

Find Older Posts

© 2018 – 2022 Martha (Molly) Gibbons, All Rights Reserved

I am a passionate follower of Jesus Christ, with an equally passionate belief that every woman who chooses to follow Jesus, has been destined for greatness in His Kingdom. He chose YOU to change the world and you have everything you need IN HIM to do it!

Hi! I’m Molly…

And I want you to know you haven’t come to this page by chance. I have asked God to bring you here. I have asked God to give you everything you need most…

And yes, I have asked Him to give you HOPE as you search for your own unique PURPOSE.

LORD, right now, will You wrap your arms around the precious one who is reading this. Will you breathe fresh hope into their heart, and bring fresh strength to their life. Please teach them Jesus… just HOW MUCH You love them!

In Jesus Name I ask this, amen.

GOD LOVES YOU!

He does, you know….  LOVE YOU!

And, I’ll tell you something else that might surprise you… He wants you to know Him and find the purpose that He has planned for your life.

Thank you for coming to my blog. God bless you!

“I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking to me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!”

Isaiah 65:24 TLB

Website Powered by WordPress.com.
Top
Follow Women With Destiny on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 626 other followers

Recent Posts

  • Stuff It!
  • God Alone
  • Desperation Two-Step
  • Dead-end Days
  • Screwy Left Turns

Translate

Categories

Pages

  • A TIME TO HEAL
  • Battlefield Jesus
  • BIO
  • Blog
  • Christmas Worship
  • God Was Always For You!
  • Hi, I’m Molly!
  • HOME
  • Must Read Books
  • New Song #7
  • Seeking His Presence
  • SHALOM BLESSING
  • Song: Flawless
  • Songs In The Night
  • Songs of HOPE Playlist
  • Suffering & Grace
  • Welcoming The Presence Of God
  • What’s That You’re Carrying?
  • You Are Priceless and Irreplaceable!
  • The Divine Romance

Follow Us

  • Twitter
  • Goodreads
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr

Goodreads

Do you Tweet? (Me, too!)

My Tweets

Archives

  • Follow Following
    • Women With Destiny
    • Join 626 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Women With Destiny
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
%d bloggers like this: