Right now, today, in this exact stage and season of your life, God is preparing you for what is next. He is using all that is to make what currently is not. That which currently is not working, that which currently is not good, that which currently is not okay, is being used by the Almighty to become something greater for your future.

Nothing is wasted in God’s mighty and capable hands. The heat refines you. The pull back propels you. The chiseling away sets you free. The resistance strengthens you. The storm cleanses you. He takes all the crap and declares it as perfect fertilizer in your life to make you grow bigger, faster, stronger.

All of this because he says your future is in his hands and you’ve been chosen for something good.

You can’t stay the same and step into what he has available for you. You will miss his greatest plans for your life if you stay right here. And you would … you would continually opt for the comfort of what is over the fear in the unknown. So God swoops in with that heat, with that chisel, with that resistance, that storm, and that crap and says ‘okay sweet girl, my plans are too good for you to just let you stay here.’

And right about then, what you’ve been counting on fails. What you’ve been working on stops working. What you had planned falls apart.

The temptation here is to grow bitter. To shrink back into the darkness of disappointment and depression. To start playing little because big things never work for you. But what if this isn’t working because it’s actually too small? What if God says this isn’t it because I have something so much bigger for your future and this little thing you got your hopes up over would only be a stumbling block on the way to what I have planned for you.

This isn’t it. No, God is working on so much more. Don’t settle here. Don’t stay here. Don’t get comfortable here and declare this as your homestead. You’re just passing through sister, loosen your grip. You’re a traveler on this journey and God is taking you to a destination you have not yet seen. Don’t get distracted along the way and forfeit what he has available for you.

It’s kindof like taking the kids to Disney World, but getting caught up in the souvenirs at the gas station along the way. There’s so much more available on down the road, just keep going. This is just a gas station stop. This is the convenience store. And honey, it may be convenient, but this is no where near all there is for you.

Won’t you keep going? Won’t you dare to get back on the road and leave behind the convenience of what you found along the way to move on to what is planned for you?

Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

This isn’t it. You haven’t arrived. This is not your final resting place. You have not yet seen the harvest God has planned for you on the other side of this work. But you will never see it if you keep giving up. I know it’s exhausting fighting through this, but if you keep going you will step into a season of harvest you can’t even contain.

Do you believe that? Do you believe God has a harvest available for you on the other side of this work? Do you believe he is leading you somewhere and your job is to keep going and not stop?

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Just think about the mind blowing fact that the creator of the Universe is personally at work now in the details of your life to bring you to good plans he has for you, to do the good work he prepared in advance for you to do. And think about this … he designed you specifically for this work.

God, in all of his wisdom and knowledge knew the work needed for the future, and he created you specifically to do that good work. Everything about your design was hand crafted as the one and only masterpiece you would become, to fill the role for which you are destined. All those quirky little details about you … yeah, those were intentional. That’s why you are his masterpiece. You are exactly as he wanted.

And now, all those things that keep happening to you … well those are actually happening for you. Now, it doesn’t feel like it and you likely can’t see it yet, but this isn’t all against you, it is for you. The crap is here as fertilizer. The pull back is here to propel you forward. The storm is here to cleanse you. The fire is here to refine you. The resistance is here to strengthen you. The chiseling away, knocking one lump after another off you, while painful as heck and unpleasant in the process, it is revealing exactly what God has put within you.

You are in preparation for the ridiculously good things God has planned for you. At this moment God is working all the details together to ensure you arrive where he has destined for you to go, and you arrive as the fully equipped, beautifully refined, miraculously strengthened, graciously humbled, and divinely trained woman God created you to be. A woman who learned how to keep going and stop giving up.

Look around … this is just preparation. Don’t get stuck here. Don’t get discouraged here. Don’t get distracted here. You’re just at the gas station sister, fuel up and keep going. This isn’t your destination. God is leading you somewhere greater where everything you’ve ever gone through, everything you’ve ever had to fight for, everything you’ve ever lost, everything you’ve ever royally screwed up, everything you’ve ever questioned, is all used for something greater than you imagined.

Good plans and good work await you, and it will be better than you could have imagined on your own. Today, you keep going and don’t settle for the gas station stop. This isn’t it. There’s so much more for you.

God, thank you for the good works you’re preparing me for. Thank you for the journey you’re taking me on to equip me for it. Thank you for not giving up on me, now I won’t give up on your good plans for me.