Between the conception of a dream and its fruition, is the unseen period of waiting, doubt and struggle. Between the two points of receiving, firstly that of the vision and secondly, that of the reality, is a time of unquestionable questioning and self-doubt.
We plough and we labour, we make sacrifices for what we think will bring us closer to our dreams, but everything arounds us stagnates. No life is seen. It is as if all we did and continue to do, will be for naught. Setting a timeline seems helpful at first, we aim for it to be done by Christmas, then New Year. If nothing else moves, there’s still Chinese New Year to fall back on.
We forget, that no amount of handwringing can overturn the purposes of Life’s seasons. Winter, takes its time. And if we had failed to be faithful to the revelation that the Gardener had given to us in Spring and missed the season of labor, if we tried to escape the excruciating wait through winter, we would surely miss the harvest.
“For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God,
ye might receive the promise.”- Heb. 10:36
Receiving a promise from God is one thing. We are filled with joy, giddy excitement and anticipation. Yet, without the faith to labour through it in Spring, and without the same endurance to wait upon it in Winter, we will miss the very thing that God has deliberately taken time to prepare us for.
What people see is that I’ve published 4 books in 10 years; what they see is the recent book launch with National Youth Council; what they see and admire is the fruit.
What is unseen, however, is between the receiving of the promise and its realization, is a long, unspoken path of tears: Kitesong was birthed through a journey of fear before faith; Rainbow, a journey through depression before healing; “I love you”, a journey of strife before marriage; and Savour, a journey of painful sacrifice and surrender, before submission.
When God gives us a message, we become not merely mouthpieces, but carriers of His burden, messengers who must have imbibed and lived a personal journey of wintry bitterness and pain, before it can be transformed into an anointing of Springtime sweetness and revelatory power.
Without that painful process, we become but mere empty vessels, mouthing only words framed with hollow meaning.
After all, our message is only as powerful as our testimony, lived in real life.
Proverbs 20:21 says, “An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning;
but the end thereof shall not be blessed.”
Few know that process of producing a book physically is not hard. The actual writing, painting, and publishing, doesn’t necessarily take that long. Once heaven opens its dam of inspiration, torrents of ideas and thoughts can make the process quick.
The arduous part is what comes before- living the message, and what comes after, waiting for its fruition. The longer we wait, the more the message has time to seep into center of our bones. We no longer become mouthpieces, but carriers of the message. Then, beyond being carriers of the message’s burden, we become livingstones, and witnesses of it.
That is the hard part.
Winter can sometimes be shortened, though never rushed nor escaped. Our willingness to surrender our flesh and yield what is most precious to us, can usher us into the fullness of God’s promises sooner.
So if you’re carrying a message of some sort- a dream, a vision, some burden, which you are slowly losing hope for, take heart.
Don’t let time’s passing discourage or wear you down. Tears, are part of the wintry waiting. It is lonesome and painful and frustrating.
But God’s calendar is different from ours.
At the right time, in His own way, when the message He wants us to imbibe, carry and become has done its work within us, we will then have earned not just an empty medal of honour, but the divine authority to speak a compelling message which commands the power to transform lives, the way we have allowed it to transform ours.
Spring, is on its way.
Happy Chinese New Year.
Pictures from Book Launch on 22 Jan 2016,
at the National Youth Council