Little Things with Great Love

This past Sunday our church's College-Age Ministry had their monthly Gathering - I wasn't planning on going, but actually finished helping out with an event at church early and was able to make it. And boy, I'm glad I did! During the whole message that was led by Matt Reagan, I felt like God was talking directly to me. Matt spoke about patience, waiting, small beginnings, and preparing now for something great in the future. Truly it's a daily struggle to choose patience over impatience when it comes to the small things, and the big things too...
As a 'dreamer' personality type, I have some big huge dreams and goals and hopes for the future. And honestly they're good goals - it's not like I have a dream to do bad things and blatantly disregard God's will for my life - dreams that God wouldn't bless because they're just downright harmful to me. No, more like my lifelong goals and hopes are centered around walking in God's will, going on mission trips to other countries, living debt free, loving those around me, getting married, having children, adopting or fostering children, and living a Christ-centered life. And sometimes I get impatient - especially with missions/marriage/kids. They're good hopes and dreams.

But sometimes when we all we hear is silence from God,

He's not telling us no, He's telling us not yet.

And that's hard. It's hard to wait for something that you so desperately want. But getting back to Matt's message, God spoke some truth into my life concerning this.

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin,

And He truly does! God's been repeating this over and over again this week for me. (must be so I really get it and understand this time.)

 The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, otherwise the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you.

He does things little by little... not all at once. It would be harmful to us if he gave us everything we wanted all at the same time or else we'd be crushed. The little things that we're doing right now are leading to the big things that will come later down the road. Being faithful in the small things - doing little things with great love... it's all preparing us for a great future God has in store for us.

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This past Monday a few of us from our Bible study were invited to go and hear from Pastor Lonnie Riley whose ministries and influence I couldn't even begin to sum up. His main ministry, Meridzo Center has over 25 ministries underneath it that have changed the lives of so many people in the small Appalachian town of Lynch, KY. He stressed the importance of patience as well. One of his ministries he started (a coffee shop - Lamp House Coffee) took over 14 years to come to fruition. I struck me that an idea the Lord gave him took fourteen years to come to pass - what with acquiring the building and getting the right people to work on this ministry.
I pray for that kind of patience.
If I had a dream now or God put something on my heart to start praying for now, would I be able to see it through until I was 37? (14 years from now.) The truth is, I'm not sure! I would hope so. I would pray and hope and ask God for that kind of patience. If any of the dreams I mentioned above took that long, I know it would be worth it, for God is always on time. But it still would be extremely hard.

Lord, give me that kind of patience and faith and trust in You. Help me to do these little things with great love, for I know that what You promise will come to pass and that You're preparing me for something great even though I cannot see it yet.