Drawing the Line by Kate CroccoSample

Desert Seasons

What about those desert seasons, when we’re waiting to hear God’s call more clearly or start in on what we believe he wants us to do?

First, practice acceptance. Accept that life might not feel ideal today but that every moment leads you to your ultimate destiny. In seasons of waiting, God recharges us, allowing us to rest up and get ready to run our race, which will appear when his time is right.

Second, embrace the desert, get quiet, lean in, listen for what the Lord is trying to reveal, observe deeper, and rest because the floodgates are about to open. This desert season will give you strength for the race to come.

Third, release the outcome. When we bet on ourselves and take bold calculated risks, we fall flat on our faces. In those instances, you need to remember that God has brought you through to show you something better. His ways are always better than ours, and he brings us through lost opportunities to show us what is available for us.

I know it’s not always easy to see, but what looks like seasons of stagnation are also seasons of growth. What looks like seasons of heartache are also seasons of redirection. What looks like seasons of pain are also God stripping away pride from your life. And what feels like seasons of hit after hit can also be seasons of great joy. We must eliminate black-and-white thinking with either/or and welcome the word and into our vocabulary.

At times when it felt I was the only one believing in my dreams, it gave me peace to remember the words from Psalm 56:9: “God is for me.” I reminded myself, It may seem like no one else is for me, and it doesn’t matter because God and I are for me.

Acceptance and trust go hand in hand. Once we can accept that God’s will is always best, we can trust that when the times feel hard, “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, NIV). Things will always work out, and when they haven’t, remember that he’s just not finished yet.

Do you believe that God is for you? What does that mean to you today?