In January I deemed 2017 my year of promise. After a lot of prayer that word was resounding in my head and heart. I felt like this would be the year I would see something happen, the harvest, if you will, of all my efforts.
We're half way through the year and I find myself beginning to wonder. Had I misheard God about this year? Had I misheard Him about His actual promises to me and what my harvest would look like? I started the year with such hope for rain and yet I still feel like I am smack dab in the middle of a drought.
But...I don't know about you but I love it when God shows up with a but...but, THERE IS A CLOUD.
I have been reminded (thanks in part to Elevation church and this awesome sermon by Steven Furtick) of the story in 1 Kings 18 where Elijah was waiting for rain and sending his servant to look for signs of it coming. Six times the servant climbed and saw nothing. The seventh time there was a small cloud.
I feel like I have been doing a lot of climbing and not a lot of seeing signs of the promise. The last couple of weeks there has been a cloud. It's small. It seems insignificant. It's there. It is reminding me that my dream isn't dead.
"At this moment in your life, all evidence may be pointing to drought, but a drought doesn't have to mean the death of your promise. It may just simply mean delay."
Don't get me wrong, delay is hard. It's not fun. But there is purpose even in our delay. I am doing everything I can to keep myself focused on God and letting Him do the work in me that He deems necessary so that I will be prepared when the promise does come. I don't like it mind you, but I'm doing it. It doesn't make the delay any easier to bear. Then God gave me another "but".
I came across a post on Facebook. It talked about a dog and an elephant getting pregnant at the same time. After 18 months the dog had given birth to several litters of puppies while the elephant had yet to give birth once. The dog wondered if the elephant was even really pregnant. The elephant told the dog that she wasn't carrying a puppy. That she may only give birth once every two years but, "When my baby hits the ground, the earth feels it. When my baby crosses the road, human beings stop and watch in admiration, what I carry draws attention. So what I'm carrying is mighty and great."
That screamed to my heart. I'm not boasting, truly. I am not great, only God is. But He planted something in my heart a long time ago and I have been waiting for it to come to pass. I have been waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. I have felt so many times like maybe I was wrong about it, like I wasn't even pregnant so to speak. I have wanted to give up under the assumption that my dream had died in this drought.
I read that post and it was like God said, "Oh no, it's just not time yet, it's still growing. Don't lose heart. You're having an elephant and when it hits the ground the earth will feel it."
"When it hits the ground, the earth will feel it."
This inspires and terrifies me all at once. So much so that I wasn't going to share it. But then I thought maybe you are in the same boat. Maybe you've been carrying a dream around for so long that you have begun to wonder if it was even really from God because nothing is happening. I would say to you to keep checking the sky because if there isn't a cloud now, there will be. God always sees His promises through. Don't be discouraged by delay. Maybe, just maybe, you're having an elephant too.