Preparation is important. In all the circumstances of our lives God is giving us the opportunity to be trained through the conditioning of our experiences. He is preparing us for seasons we are not yet in.

God brings us through seasons of conditioning to prepare us for other seasons of life. Conditioning is the process of training or accustoming a person to behave in a certain way or to accept certain circumstances. Oftentimes, we call these seasons the valley.

God says, “I know you have a plan for your life, but I have a better plan for your life.” The question we must ask ourselves in the midst of all our circumstances is, what do I do in the present when it does not look like the promise?

Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

God asks us to hold onto hope in the midst of tough times and then wait. Our hope must rest in the fact that we serve a God that is not done. He is still working in everything.

Psalm 62:1-2 “God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I need comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I’m set for life.”

When we don’t pause, reflect and wait we miss the miracles happening all around us and this is when we lose hope. God wants to work through us in the middle of our waiting. In this way, He starts to awaken us to those who can come alongside us in this faith of hope.

Romans 5:3-4 “There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.”

He is working in us in the midst of our difficulties. Hope in the middle of our wait is rebellion against this world and the enemy. This is because oftentimes we allow our pain to become our idol.

Satan wants our focus to be away from God, so when other things consume our time and thoughts we cannot see how He is working, thus losing our hopefulness. He can only work in us in so far as we allow Him to move.

His response to us is always love! We can do what we are called to because He is bigger than us. We can be faithful because He is faithful. When we allow God to work in us He transforms us.

As we rest in Him and wait on Him to make a way through our difficulties He exposes our idols. We are able to tune into the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit and have a bias for action as we are led by the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in all the decisions that come our way.

Most often it is control of the outcome that we must surrender. We can trust that He will show us how to come to Him instead of our idols. This is when growth happens and our faith is matured.

Growth doesn’t happen in the easy times. It’s in the hard times that we rely on Him and we are changed.

Isaiah 43:18-19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

While we wrestle with our circumstances, He is redeeming all things. We are worthy of being known and pursued. We have a purpose. Our faithfulness is setting the stage for miracles.

What would you write down on the other side of your wrestle and wait?