My friend prayed over me after I shared my heart with her, the things I’ve been struggling with this week. She prayed these words “Lord, Janise is living in a not-yet space…”
Isn’t that the truth.
I have hope for what God can do, but I am not there yet, in the impossible possible of our God. My life is in a not-yet place, the in-between. I’m straddling the place of pain and woundedness and the hope for healing that is to come. I’m in the midst of the journey between the land of “this is not what I thought life would be like” and the land of God’s “better than I could have hoped for” wide open spaces.
This week, the straddling has tired me out.
I texted this to a friend this week – the one who sent me this meme in the first place
Then I simply texted… I don’t want to be a bad-ass anymore.
What do you do when you are tired of God thinking you’re a bad-ass? When you are tired of living in the not-yet spaces? When you want your feet firmly planted in the wide open spaces of wholeness and healing and goodness?!
For me, this week I’m holding to some words from the longest prayer in the Bible: “God is always true to His word.”
This verse is the memory verse the teacher for our Women’s Bible Study chose for the week. Each week the teacher who is up to teach chooses a verse, and I’ve been making them into beautiful reminders of Truth for us to carry with us.
This verse comes from this amazing book we have been studying this Fall, the book of Nehemiah. A book about rebuilding from the ash and rubble. A book about preserving despite opposition. A book about a God who fights for us. A book where God’s people turn to their God, they remember who He is and who they are, and they claim the promises He has made to them.
This verse comes from the longest prayer in the Bible, a prayer found in Nehemiah 9:5-38. A prayer where God’s people remember who their God is and what He has done for them. They praise Him for being the God who made all things. They remember He is the God who chose Abraham and made a covenant with him and all his ancestors to be their God and they would be His people. They remember He is the God who delivered them from slavery in Egypt and made a way in the wilderness and brought them in to a good land and forgave them again and again when they turned to go their own way. It’s an amazing prayer I encourage you to definitely check out.
In the midst of this prayerful remembering, they claim this truth.
You have done what you promised, for you are always true to your word. Nehemiah 9:8
Here’s the thing friends:
If our God is the God who has done what He promised, for He is ALWAYS true to His word, then it also means that He is the God who will do what He promised, for He is ALWAYS true to His word.
Throughout Scripture, especially in the Psalms, the people of God remember who their God is and what he has done. Why? Because it reminds them that God is always true to His word. He has been true to His word in the past, He is true to His word in the present, and He will be true to His word in the future.
And so I continue to live in the not-yet spaces with hope and belief that God is ALWAYS true to His word.
Today, as I live in the not-yet spaces, I say with the Psalmist
“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13
And so I will also let this same Psalmist speak to my heart encouragement…
“Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!”
Psalm 27:14
God knew I needed this reminder this week of all weeks.
Perhaps you need it too…
Please feel free to download this verse to remind yourself in your own not-yet spaces… Our God is ALWAYS true to His Word. And then claim the promises He has made to you!
