The wind rushes the length of my street, stirs the shiny green leaves of the laurel and the delicate red-tinged crabapple, setting berries to shimmy like dangly earrings.
The wind brushes between my socks and the hem of my pants, cues the chimes to play.
I know the wind is real, but I believe in it fresh when I see it and behold evidence that it’s moving.
Many years ago in a nearly empty café, I wrote line after painful line, stomach churning over my inability to express myself the way I desired. That day God spoke to me through my own pen that I needed to write, and he would take care of the rest.
God stirred.
At the age of 18, God told me I’d marry a wonderful boy. A few months later, the wonderful boy broke up with me.
Six years later, we married.
God moved.
Fifteen years ago, on a college mission trip, I cleaned rooms in a trash-filled, bloodstained single-room occupancy hotel in San Francisco. I felt deep inside the pain of those who lived there, along with an unfathomable peace. I felt the stirring of God’s message: he had chosen me for painful work, walking alongside the broken and hurting.
God rushes, God brushes, God speaks, God nudges. Sometimes in the pebbles of everyday circumstances thrown in water, rippling in slow motion circles; other times with rocks placed right here, creating monuments of remembrance that we heard his voice.
But what of the times all seems still, when we don’t see or feel God moving. What of these times we wait?
For the promised child? Our mission field? The dreams we barely dare speak?
As I’ve waited for God to bring to life my heart’s dreams – many still unfulfilled – I’ve been encouraged by David, who waited more than 20 years between his anointing as Israel’s king and the day of his rule.
Sometimes waiting is learning to walk faith new. Sometimes waiting is preparing. Sometimes, we don’t know the why. Regardless, what might we learn through the example of David?
As David awaited his kingship, he served in small and large ways – whether caring for his father’s sheep, playing harp to soothe the troubled King Saul, serving his brothers on the battlefield or slaying the giant, Goliath.
How are you serving? Do you find it hard to remember God blesses not only great acts of valor, but also the everyday small done in love?
As David waited, he submitted to God and trusted in the Lord’s timing – though he experienced times of tremendous fear, loneliness and confusion. Even when jealous King Saul sought to kill him, David refused to take the life of the king, believing God knew better. David made significant mistakes along the way, but he returned over and again to his God.
Has opposition from others caused you to lose hope? Are you struggling to make your way back to God? Do you find yourself scheming or mustering strength to bring about his calling?
Lastly, as David waited, he sought God in prayer, proclaiming his goodness. In Psalm 59 (believed to be written during one of Saul’s murderous pursuits), David described the Lord as “Protector,” “Savior,” “Almighty,” “Fortress” and “Loving God.”
Do you believe God loves you and is mighty to bring about what he desires in your life? What quality of God can you proclaim while you wait?
Today, friends, whether you see winds blow, or whether all seems still, may you experience afresh God’s breath as you serve him, seek him and submit to his love that leads.
By Ashley Larkin, Draw Near.
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