Carol J German

Currently as I type this, my grandson is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. His mother is birthing him. Soon, he will be leaving the only home he has known and entering into His calling that God has graciously orchestrated. Grandma is rather excited to meet him.

The womb has been his hiding place where God has been knitting him together so perfectly. He is being born for such a time as this. He has a calling on his life that only he can fulfill. In the womb, God has been preparing him. He will now enter this world ready to fulfill what God has for him.

Your birth was the same way. God knit you so tenderly and lovingly and precisely with His hands as you grew in your mother’s womb. Everything about you was made for His glory, then your birthday arrived and here you are. God’s hope for you is that you learn to know who God is and follow His Son as you listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Luke 15:10 says, “In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.” 3 John 1:4 says, “I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.”

As you live out your faith, God will send you into the wilderness. These are times where He wants your undivided attention because He has something to teach you or prepare you for. Often, this spiritual fitness training season can be lengthy. It can get lonely and become tiresome. God loves to stretch you so you will grow and mature in Him.

Think of Abraham and Sarah. God promised them a son; read Genesis 17:15-17. In their belief of this wonderful promise, they looked forward with hope only to have God put them in the wilderness of waiting. It got lengthy. So lengthy that Sarah got tired, frustrated, and took matters into her own hands, read Genesis 16:1-4. Then it took another 14 years for the promise of their son to come to fruition.

Does God have you waiting on something? And in the waiting, has it been long enough where you wants to jump ship? You want to doubt what God is telling you? Yet, in these darker days of walking solely by His light, you remain. You remain looking up to the heavens as you peer into His Word, and hear that familiar voice telling you to stay, sit quiet, abide in My presence. “This is My gift to you in the moment. This is all you need for there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

This season of stretching your faith will come to an end as God leads you back out into the light of day. There, you will see your next calling. Just as my grandson is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for the first time, you will see the ends of many tunnels as you navigate through the seasons of life. God is faithful to lead you, prepare and train you for your next assignment, and the next one, and the next one.

Thank God for this journey called faith. It’s not for the faint-at-heart. It takes what I call, SISU, an inner determination to keep going. For me, I have been in the wilderness for almost 8 years. I feel like Sarah. God is leading me to a new assignment. I don’t know what it is, but His training within me has been tough, and the enemy doesn’t like that I haven’t jumped ship. I do know that what is before me will be worth it. I can look back and know for certain that God is with me and He will lead me home. He is beyond faithful. HIs presence is truly all I need. I would never have come to know God so deeply without wilderness living.

Matthew 24:13 ESV says, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Also Matthew 10:22 ESV says, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Look at Hebrews 10:38 ESV, “But My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” Look to God and let Him lead you, even if that means wilderness times. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.