It's Not Too Late.

Earlier tonight, March 22, 2013, I delivered my first official sermon in front of my home church  and received my ministerial license. Below is the text of my message.

  Habakkuk 2 vs 2 - 3

2 Then the Lord replied,

“Write down the revelation
    and make it plain on tablets
    so that a herald may run with it.
³ For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
    it speaks of the end
    and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;   
it will certainly come
  and will not delay.”

We all have dreams in our lives. We all have a vision of the way our purpose in life will play out. We also all have times in our lives where we feel that we’re past our time or it’s taking too long to get where we’re going.  After a certain point we  can become discouraged and even give up on our dream. But God tells us in  His own words, that it’s not too late for that which he told us to do. There is a time and a season for our vision to come to life and we have to wait on it because it will come at the appointed time. Let’s take a look at one of those times in the Bible where the dream lingered or tarried.  We’re looking at Abraham and Sarah in Genesis chapter 18.

The dream of Sarah’s heart was to be able to have a child for Abraham. This is a good and godly desire but time and her body worked against her dream. Every year that she grew older, a little bit more of Sarah’s dream died. Then when she least expected it, God showed up to rekindle a dying dream.  Three visitors came Sarah and Abraham in the heat of the day:

Gen 18, Vs 9-14:

⁹ “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said.
¹⁰ Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

Reading farther down in the chapter we see that the promise God had given came at the ‘appointed time and Issac was born through Sarah. At the time when she had long past given up hope, God rekindled Sarah’s dream and made her a promise that she would have which she desired above all else. It was so fantastic of an idea that Sarah scoffed at it as being ridiculous. But at the appointed time, Sarah gave birth to a son and through him all the nations of the earth were blessed. Her vision  came to past, later than she expected after she had given up all hope, but at the appointed time and not a day before. So you see, it doesn’t matter what age we’re at or how young or how old we are, this passage shows us that there is an appointed season for all God has promised us. An appointed time. We need to wait on it.

So what do we do while we wait? The passage from Habakkuk  tells us two things:

1. Write down the vision

Take a piece of paper (or your computer) and write out the vision or the God-given            dream in your life. Very simple. Write down as much of the details as you know them. Review it from time to time to clarify what the vision actually is and which leads us to the second point.

2. Make it plain.

This where you take the dream and do the work. You clarify it.  If God calls you to be a teacher, a doctor or a preacher this waiting period is the time to research what actually a teacher, doctor or a  minister really is. There is training to be done, qualifications to be met. What  are they? It’s important to find that out and it takes time. Finding these things out is what ‘making it plain’ is all about. It may take a lengthy time of preparation before you can actually step into the vision God has placed in your heart. It’s never too late to do what God calls you to do. It may seem like it’s taking forever, and we might feel it’s too late, or it’s past time for our God - given vision to come to past.

I am a witness that God will do what he says he will do at the appointed time. At fifty-seven years old, I am just stepping into the fullness of what God has for me to do.  On January I stepped into the staff position of Pastor of Women at my church. I can do this with a confidence that waiting on the Lord's timing brings.  So I encourage you to wait on the vision. While you wait, write it down, clarify it or make it plain. As the word says, it will certainly come and not delay. It’s not too late. There is an appointed time so wait for it and prepare while you wait. It’s never too late for God to do what he says he will do.

What vision do you have in your heart that seems it's taking a long time coming? 

Have you written it down and done the research to 'make it plain?

Let us know so we can pray with you and offer encouragement as you wait.

It's harder than it sounds: What I learned in January

At the beginning of this year I posted about the theme  God gave me for 2013, of singing praises to the Lord all the days of my life.  “In the good times, in the bad times, in the unspeakably terrible times I would sing praises to the Lord with my whole heart.” I meant that when I wrote it and believed I would do it. What I didn't know is that this Praise Walk was going to be harder than it sounds. 

The Sunday morning after I wrote that first post, I woke up to heart chilling news. A dear friend of mine, my lifelong best friend since junior high was very, very ill. I She was in bad, bad shape. I could very well be losing my oldest dearest friend. The words I had written not two days before came back to me, almost mocking me. 

“I will praise the Lord all my life. I will sing praises as long as I live.”

Seriously? Sing praises to the Lord NOW?  I can’t think, I can’t breathe, I can’t pray – how am I going to praise Him? And for what? My friend could be dying…how do I praise God though this? 

It was very hard at that moment but I started trying to understand what it meant to praise the Lord. It was a command, not a suggestion so it was something I was supposed to do. In the good times and in the bad times and in times like these, I was commanded to Praise the Lord.  Ok, so where do I start? I should start at the beginning and praise God for Who He Is. I needed to remind myself  Who I was talking about and Who I was talking to. So I began to praise Him according to what I knew about God. I praised Him because He is a great and mighty God and beside Him there is no other. I praised Him because He is the God who sits high and looks low. I praised Him because in His hands are the depths of the earth and the tops of the mountains. And then it hit me. Somewhere in between the depths of the earth and the tops of the mountains was my dear friend which meant she was in His hands as well.  Peace began to settle in my soul. My friend was in His hands and He would take care of her. I began praise God for that.

The thing I have learned this January on the beginning of this 2013 Praise Walk is that praising the Lord all the days of my life is a lot harder than it sounds. I also learned how to do it. You have to start at the beginning, with remembering Who God Is and praise Him for it. Beginning there will lead you step by step to the place of comfort which for me was remembering that God had my friend in His hands and that He would take care of her.  In the good times, in the bad times and in the frightening and heartbreaking times, we can sing praises to the Lord because praising Him reminds us of why we praise Him in the first place. He is our God and He cares for us. And besides Him there is none other.

Yes I will praise the Lord all the days of my life and even though it's harder than it sounds, I will be able to do so  if I remember to begin and end with Him.

What have you learned this January? 

Tell us about it so we can all learn something new this month