Digging Ditches

Hope deferred makes the heart sick. I've been doing some self evaluating and have discovered some things about myself that I've been wanting to pursue but have not been able to, to the extent that I wanted to. I've been feeling like I wasn't going anywhere. Ever felt that way? Sometimes I need to take a break from what I'm doing and look at where I am. Sometimes I find myself further along than I thought. I'm a long way from where I was 19 years ago. For that matter, I'm a long way from where I was 4 years ago and even 2 years ago. Little by little, God is working on me, helping me to become more and more like him. I believe that he's been working on my patience lately and though I didn't feel like I was making much progress, things are in reality moving quickly toward where I want  and believe that God is leading.

When you believe that God is going to give you what you ask for, then you need to start digging the ditch. What does that mean? There's a story in the Bible that is told about Elijah. He had the Israelites dig a ditch around the altar and poured water over the sacrifice until the ditch was full. Then he prayed for fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice and believed that God was going to answer that prayer. Not only did fire fall from heaven and consume the sacrifice, but it dried up all the water in the ditch as well. All this to say that for the last few months, I've been digging the ditch because I believe that God is going to answer my prayer and there were some things that I had to do to prepare myself for what is going to come. Also along the way, he's been teaching me to be patient as a bonus gift, I guess. But I'm pretty sure that what I've been hoping for will come to fruition.

Pushing Towards Excellence,

Keith