When the Wait is Over

Habakkuk 2:3

³ For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.

The last part of this verse says, your vision will surely come to pass, it will not tarry. This is somewhat confusing when the line before says though it tarries wait for it. How is that possible?

My sweet cousin Anna is a beautiful illustration of what this verse means. You can read her full story here, but in a nut shell…. She and her husband tried to conceive a child for several years. During that time they experienced both hope and disappointment, joy and pain, anticipation and wondering if they were ever going to see their promise come to pass. I cannot imagine the emotions of being happy for friends and family who were having children, while at the same time longing for that to be you.

Anna and her husband allowed the waiting place to become a training place. Rather than focus on what they were waiting for, they instead put all of their focus on the Lord. They delighted in Him, and let Him work in their hearts. (One day soon Anna will guest blog and tell you her story in her own words. It is beautiful and I know it will bless and encourage you.)

Tomorrow their darling little girl will be six months old. She is the joy of their life, and you can see why!

Before their precious daughter showed up anna and John had to wait for a season, but that glorious day they held their baby girl in their arms, the waiting stopped. There was no more tarrying, no more wondering when the appointed time would be. Just the fulfillment of the God given dream that was on the inside of them.

When the vision comes to pass, the tarrying stops, the celebrating begins and the memory of the waiting place fades away. The season of waiting may not ever be completely forgotten, but the joy of the fulfilled promise overtakes the pain.

Psalm 30:5 promises us ……Weeping may endure for a night,  But joy comes in the morning. If you are still waiting for your vision to come to pass be encouraged. Your sorrow will be turned to joy, and the morning is closer than you think!

P.S- I felt compelled to say if you are struggling with infertility I would like to specifically pray for you today. Please send me an email- lsarno@relevantfl.org or leave  comment if you feel comfortable doing so. I believe God will comfort your heart and give you the strength to endure this waiting place and I would love to believe with you for the fulfillment of the desire of your heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every Vision Has a Voice

Habakkuk 2:3  ³ For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
      But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
      Though it tarries, wait for it;
      Because it will surely come,
      It will not tarry.

I wanted to continue talking a little bit about this passage. Specifically the part that says But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Every vision has a voice. It might not be a loud voice. It might not even be discernable by anyone but you in the beginning. Have you ever felt God speak to your heart about something and you shared it with someone else and they didn’t understand what you were talking about? Or else they understood but thought you were crazy anyways?

I will never forget when I first met my husband. The day I met him I knew he was “the one”. Problem was, he didn’t hear the same thing I did! Every one in my circle of friends knew that I was interested in him, and they also knew that he was not interested in me. AT ALL! They thought I was nuts.

 I heard people tell me I should give up, that he was never going to ask me out, that I needed to move on. Behind my back, I am quite sure I was the butt of more than one joke. Especially when he was bringing another girl to church! (But that’s a different story!) Even though for a long while it didn’t look like I had heard right, I still felt in my heart that he was going to be the one I married. After about a year of never seeing any interest from him, I decided that I was wrong and should date other people. However, six months after that Chris and I started becoming very good friends, and our relationship grew from there.

When he finally started reciprocating my feelings, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops to prove everyone wrong. To let everyone know that I had been right. But my man would tell people that we were “just friends.” Until the appointed time. Fast forward nine months, we got married and lived happily ever after… most of the time 🙂

Although I heard the voice of the vision in the beginning, no else did, not even my husband. But in the end it spoke and did not lie. In the end, everyone heard what I had heard all along.

My husband isn’t the only thing God has spoken to my heart. There are dreams and visions He has given me that no one else knows about. Dreams that I know are from Him, but that I also know are not for right now. So I wait. Until His appointed time, until He says “Now”, until He opens the doors. All the while knowing that what only I hear now, in the end will speak loud enough to be heard by many.

What’s your vision? What has it been speaking to you? Even if no one else hears, hold onto it, don’t let it go, and trust that in the end it will not lie!

The Time

Yesterday I started talking about Habakkuk 2:3, and how important it is to have vision for your life. I repeated what my husband said, “Every vision has a time, a voice, a tarry, and a time when it comes to pass.” As promised, today we are going to talk about the appointed time.

The thing about your vision is, it is for an apointed time, and we don’t always know when that time is. We might think we know but as it says in Isaiah 55:8- our thoughts are not HIS thoughts. Just because we think the apointed time is now, doesn’t mean that He does. Instead of focusing on when your vision, your purpose for your life, is going to come to pass, start actually focusing on what you need to do to see that it does.

Take Yu Na Kim for example.

She was the 2010 Olympic gold Medal Champion in figure skating. Her apointed time was February 25, 2010. However, Yu Na had been skating for 12 years before that moment. She had trained extensively, and practiced relentlessly. Her family even moved to another part of South Korea, and eventually to California to enable her to get the best training she could get. She was in countless skating competitions in the nine years between her first international competition  and the World’s biggest event- The Olympics.

I do not know this exceptional yound lady personally, but I imagine that she always had a goal in mind, a goal to win an Olympic gold medal. I would imagine that every decision made in her life over all the years  was carefully weighed against her goal. She probably practiced when she didn’t feel like it, skated when she was tired, and perservered until her apointed time came. She probably fell down, got knocked down, had moments where she wanted to quit. But since she is currently ranked the number one ladies figure skater in the world, I’m guessing she didn’t let anything stop her from reaching the vision that she saw in herself from the time she was 7 years old and began training to be a champion.

What’s your vision? I asked you that yesterday. What are you doing to train for your moment, for your appointed time? Are your actions in the right now reflecting the vision that God has given you for your life in the time to come?

The time that you spend preparing for your purpose is never time that has no meaning. When the apointed time comes, you will be glad that you were ready!

Monday Meditation- What’s your vision?

Habakkuk 2:3 –

For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
      But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
      Though it tarries, wait for it;
      Because it will surely come,
      It will not tarry.

My husband just finished a series on pursuing your purpose. It was very eye-opening and made me really evaluate what my purpose is.  One Sunday a few weeks ago he taught on Habakkuk chapter 2 verses 1-3. The whole passage is good, but I haven’t been able to get verse 3 out of my mind. I have been meditating on this specific scripture for the past two weeks!

One of the things that my hubs said (giving credit where credit is due 🙂 ) is that every vision has a time, a voice, a tarry and a time when it comes to pass. Over the next few days I might write about each of those things, but today let’s start at the beginning. With the vision itself.

Each one of us has something that we are called to do. I meet a lot of people who say, “I don’t know what my purpose is.” When you don’t know your purpose you don’t have a clear sense of direction. You can wander around aimlessly hoping to eventually find your reason for living. One thing my very wise husband says is that you know what you are called to do by what you love and by what you hate.

For example, he hates seeing people sick. It really tweaks him to see someone suffering. It’s no surprise that he flows in a strong healing anointing, and holds miracle, healing crusades aorund the world. I love to worship. It is has always been my passion, my greatest joy, and something I never tire of. I am constantly writing songs or ideas for songs down in my journal. (Even sometimes when I’m supposed to be taking notes in church! Don’t tell Pastor Chris :0) My favorite thing to do is not only enter the presence of God, but take others there with me.  I would and have led worship with a full band and choir, or by myself with tracks, for two people or for 2000 people. It doesn’t matter to me. I know my purpose.  I’m a worship leader.

 Maybe you love spending time with older people. Maybe you love children. Maybe you can’t stand to see a young girl with no self esteem lowering her standards for every Joe blow that walks by. Maybe your heart aches when you see a homeless person on the side of the road. Does that mean you are called to be a Senior’s pastor, or a Children’s pastor or a youth minister, or to start a homeless outreach? Maybe, but maybe not. Perhaps you are just called to help in one of those ministries in a local church.

If you evaluate yourself and still don’t have a clue what you’re purpose is, then start trying out different things. Volunteer at the Salvation Army, work in the children’s ministry at your church. Attend a Bible Study at a local college. Visit your church’s choir practice. (If you’re in Daytona Beach, our is on Thursday nights… just sayin’!) At the very least you’ll then know for sure what you’re NOT called to do.

Chances are good that God has already given you the vision for your life. Once you know what it is then do what it says in Habakkuk 2:1 in the Message Bible. And then God answered: “Write this.
   Write what you see.
Write it out in big block letters
   so that it can be read on the run.

Write it out, make it plain, and keep it in the forefront of your mind. Knowing your purpose simplifies your life, governs your thoughts, words and actions, and keeps you on track to fulfilling the vision that God gave you.