You are in a place where it feels dark, quiet, and lonely. There are people moving around you every day, laughing and full of so much happiness, but for some reason you feel cut off from the world deep within. You ask yourself, is it a place of solitude, my wilderness experience, or just a plain ole' season of loneliness? At times it can be difficult to tell the difference between the three. You ponder and try to make sense of it all, but you can't figure out what is going on and why it feels as if this has been going on for so long.
This moment in time will determine if you are ready for what's ahead and if you are ready for what you have prayed for. When you are in this space, it is very important that you pay attention to your thoughts each day. The words you speak in this during this time is critical to your next step, so speak and think wisely. I know, I know, that it is easier said than done because when you look out of the window of your soul, you see the sun shining, but you feel like you are locked in a prison within. Fear paralyzes you, worry torments your mind, and you believe the lie that you are stuck in life and will not reach your destination.
Allow me to ask you a few questions. What if the place of frustration, doubt, worry, and discouragement, is the very place of protection, would you change your perspective? What if I told you that God wants to hide you in this place from the things you are not ready for, would you trust Him more? What if I told you that everything you are feeling and thinking is human nature, but God wants to trade those feelings for His peace, rest, and hope. Would you release them? I am asking this because our hiding place can seem like a place of delay and frustration, when in actuality it is the place of security from the things we cannot see.
Alot of the times we think we have it all figured out and we come up with a great idea, solution, or plan and go full speed ahead. When we do this, we fail to see the potholes and ditches in our path that will cause us to crash and burn. We believe we are ready to show up in front of the world but fail to realize that our time has not come yet, and we are not ready for the load that comes with the assignment. Because He knows this, He has a quiet place of hiding in Him where He slows us down to prepare and test us before He opens up doors in our lives. These doors of opportunity will come with great expectations, and we must be fully prepared to handle it all.
In our hiding place, we are tested, trained, and tried to see how much we can endure. To see how much, we can handle without breaking. To see how we respond to the pressure of life and the tug of war battle for our time each day. The hiding place is where we can hear God and strengthen our relationship with Him. We can focus solely on what it is He needs from us and what we need from Him. I know the hiding place can be a tough place to endure, but this is the very place where God does His amazing work. Stay in hiding until it's your time!
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