Sunday, February 6, 2011

Ummmm....I think I'll take the stairs!


If your like me, sometimes you wonder why you can’t just wake up one day as, ummmm, I don’t know, Beth Moore or Sheila Walsh or Lysa Teurkurst. God is big enough to do that right? To wave his magic wand, and all of the sudden you are the leader of an amazing ministry, making a living out of exactly what you wanted to do. He could do that right? Of course He could! I have no doubt that if He wanted to, He could have the “right” people call me tomorrow and my book would be published and I would be speaking at conferences weekly. That is IF He wanted me to, or IF he was ready for me too, or IF I was ready. He is capable. I am willing. So what’s all the hold up about?

I tend to get ahead of myself, it’s a bad habit of mine. I tend to lack patience, and I wanted “it” (whatever “it” happens to be at the moment) yesterday. But, thank you God that He knows better.

I wish I was more biblically knowledgeable, if I was I could give you verses, but I oftentimes find myself running across stories in the Bible about falls. It can be the fall of a glamorous city, or the fall of a famous leader, or the fall of an army - there is lots of falling in the Bible. Most of the time it happens when people or places get too prideful, start to believe that they don’t need God anymore, and their hearts turn away and turn wicked. It happens over and over again. I hate to use the cliché, but, pride comes before a fall.

I love the words that I found in Lamentations to day. Lamentations 3:16 “He has made me chew on gravel, He has rolled me in the dust. Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is.”

Have you ever been in that kind of place? Chewing on gravel. Boy, I sure have. Could it be possible that God doesn’t send us on an elevator to the top of the high rise of our dreams, because He knows that if He did, we would inevitably fall? And not a little fall, but the kind of fall that we would step out of the elevator, not knowing which direction to go, wander of the ledge, and find ourselves eating gravel. Could that be why He instead sends us up the stairs? The rough stairs. The long, grueling, makes you out of breath, hurts your thighs, and causes blisters in your high heals, kind of stairs.

I think maybe the reason He doesn’t wave His wand in our lives all the time, is because we are not ready, yet. That does not mean that we won’t be ready, because we will. But we have to gain some strength, learn some lessons, live some life, make some mistakes, and lay down some dreams before He can take us to the top. The top that He has planned for us, which is far more than the top we could ask for or imagine. It is not anyone else’s summit either, it is the summit at the top of the high rise of our life, what He has for you and you alone!

So let’s start another week girls! One stair at a time, and loving each and every minute of it! It’s a privilege to get to climb the stairs, if we rode the elevator, we would miss out on all the beauty He has provided for each and every step.

14 comments:

  1. Well said Stephanie, I love it! Agh... yes, I have ate gravel before... and still seem to eat it now at times too~ (due to my own decisions!) I'm sorry to say, that I can be impatient too. So many times He knows I'm not ready, when I think I am and I am raring to go. And, like the song "Unanswered Prayers" by Garth Brooks, I have been able at times to look back and see the reasons He didn't take me to the top. It's humbling. He loves us and knows us better than we know ourselves. So, tomorrow I will start another week along with you taking it one stair step at a time.... Hugs

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  2. Oh, yes, our posts are very similar. Those stairs in that picture are freaky! I'll be praying that we both have patience as we climb. Thanks for your sweet comment.

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  3. oh those stairs.....I will never complain about living on the 2nd floor again. LOL....and I hear you with the "chewing on gravel" ....I try to take it one step at a time, too...any more than that and I get so overwhelmed!

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  4. Enjoying this link through Jen. It is the journey that matters . . . each of those steps matter. Thanks for the encouragement.

    Fondly,
    Glenda

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  5. Way to go, Stephanie, a wonderful analogy. I'm similar in that I want to just get where I want to be. But you're right, God has us where He wants us for now. Thanks for the reminder. He's using you right now, that's for sure :)

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  6. AND we get to climb them with each other right?:)
    SUCH a good post...when I first saw the stairs I went...ugh..those ar steep. Often our called stairs are steep aren't they. Yes - I have chewed lots of gravel.
    Even if I don't get to the top...I will choose to be happy in my climb. I've spent to many years looking at the top and truly missing the climb...just like you said. That came out of the school of hard knocks. They only one I keep finding myself in...I say that laughing.
    love it
    xo:)

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  7. This is amazing - so introspective and wise. I think it is a process of emptying, letting go, so to make room for Him in all the spaces of our heart.

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  8. Hopping over from Soli Deo Gloria. It is amazing that you wrote this and I'm reading it today. Just last night I was reading Chapter 5 of Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts, and there she talks about "a mouth full of gravel" - same reference. So you are so right, we are not alone on these stairs! Wonderful.

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  9. I love your honesty! I started a ministry on my blog a few weeks ago calle A Meal in the Mail, and I have had the same thoughts you shared, becuase it didn't just boom overnight with people giving or people who are in need of being featured. But I finally came to the conclusion that I am to serve and do what God has called me to do out of obedience, NOT its success rate. Obedience and prayer... :)

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  10. "It's our privilege to climb the stairs." I love that! I've chewed on gravel, too, and I found it's better in the long run to wait for Him, and to just be...with Him.

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  11. Stephanie,
    This is exactly what I needed to hear. I want an elevator to zoom me to the top of my goals and dreams. I don't want to wait to grow and learn. I want it now, now, now. Good reminder that I couldn't handle it now, now, now.

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  12. Great words to ponder and remember when we want to be anyone other than who God has called and equipped us to be! Lysa often says, "If I want her good, I have to take her bad too... People are package deals." That helps me when I wish my ministry, blog, job...life!... were like someone else's :)

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  13. First of all LOVE your title: 'the Best is yet to be'...our missionary team leader in Hungary always says, 'the BEST is yet to come!' and I just can't get enough of saying it...

    and yes, this is all true...it certainly has been my life--especially as far as a larger scale ministry...there's a big story, but i'm just going to thank you for how you've reminded me of what this journey has specifically looked like...I feel like we are definitely kindred spirits/soul sisters.

    I hope you come visit...I promise I'll be back too!

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  14. This is good, so good. I've chewed some gravel myself after taking a prideful fall and wanting it all now instead of taking the stairs. I love this message and the picture of taking the stairs and learning along the way. So glad to find you ....

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