What do you do when what you’ve been chasing
Suddenly turns around without notice, and runs
Toward you? Will you ignore the change
And keep running until you crash into it?
Will you stop and wonder, amazed, at loss,
Unsure of what to do until it wheezes past?
Will you take a stand, look with discerning eyes,
Open your arms and embrace a dream come true
Or will you turn around and run away in fear?
Oftentimes we think we are so ready
Until what we chase comes chasing after us
Then truth dawns as reality unveils
That readiness is a state and not a claim.

I have gone through different phases in ministry and each phase reveals the newness of this Ancient God that never changes. I recall one phase years back, when I wanted to organize my work. I created folders, for weeks, months, years, for different themes and subjects and all that. Then the waiting began. I was waiting on God to provide inspiration, messages to fill in the empty folders but nothing came. Yet every week, when it was time to send out the GoodNewsletter, I pull up my laptop, unsure of what the subject for that week will be. That readiness opens the tap of divine inspiration as God pours encouragement through my fingers.

I can practice that same preparedness for the rest of the week on the organized folders and nothing will come out of it until same time the next week. It eventually dawned that God wanted me to share from fresh springs of my walk with Him. Not to draw from a pile of storage, but fresh from the fountain.

I came into another phase where I knew there was a change but not sure of its extent. I thought it was business as usual until some incidents alerted me that the season has changed. It was time to present pots before the Lord, so they can be filled, saved and served in due times.

One remarkable thing about walking with God, which I often  missed in my early days, and which I see people miss is that once we think we have heard from God, we shut our ears and run along. We run headlong with the first order without due recourse to the Guide along the way. I have learned that God is not the author of confusion, yet His ways are as unpredictable as they are consistent. He can change styles whenever and however He pleases and except we are walking hand in hand with Him, we will struggle with these winds of changes that are designed to enhance our productivities and output.

It is unfortunate that vessels, designed and dispatched to aid our walk with the Lord and our service in the Kingdom, somehow appear as stumbling blocks because we are not rightly positioned to discern correctly, the purpose and season of each. We struggle with winds that should lift us and waste resources fighting what was sent to help us. Eventually, we are the losers – spent with nothing to show for all the troubles we have been through, which could have been averted if we knew better. Growing up, one of my favorite Scriptures is the one that speaks of how the prudent sees approaching trouble and dodges whereas the simple stumble along and is taken out cheaply (Proverbs 22:3, 27: 12.)

Only God knows how many of us are lost in the pit, struggling with conditions that were sent to birth the changes we hoped for, swept away by changes we prayed for; demoted by changes that were meant for our promotion; destroyed by changes that should have repositioned and established us. Any wonder Bible counseled that wisdom is the principal thing. We need wisdom to figure out the events playing out around us so we can respond accordingly. May your heart be guided to know what to do, and to do what is right so that you will exploit the wind that is blowing within and around you, for good, amen.

Glory!