Why We Need To Trust The Process
Why We Need To Trust The Process
Happy New Year and welcome to 2020! I thought we would start the New Year with a chat around the kitchen table! Grab your favourite cup of something warm and grab a seat – there is room for everyone. The topic for today is Why We Need to Trust the Process.
We Have Moved
So a lot has happened in our household in the last few months. Starting it all off, we made the decision to move from Nova Scotia to Moncton, New Brunswick. In the last 11 weeks we have prepared our home for sale (decluttered, cleaned, repaired), sold our home, purchased a new home in Moncton, packed, moved, put together our Ikea furniture, and celebrated Christmas and the New Year. It has been a bit of a whirlwind! At this point in time, we are about 95% unpacked and settled in. Not too bad, if you ask me. We are loving our new home.
Putting Things Together
When we moved, we needed some new furniture for our new home. Before we left Nova Scotia we made a trip (or two) to Ikea and picked out the items we needed. We left everything in their boxes for ease of moving. Once we arrived in Moncton, we began the process of assembly. On Christmas Day, we took on the challenge of assembling the new sofa. Next came the glass cabinet, and in between Christmas we tackled the new trundle bed. All in all about 9 and ½ hours of assembly.
Furniture Assembly
It is hard to visualize the final product when you are starting with a pile of wood, screws and a few Allen keys. I tend to have to really focus to think my way through spatial things on a good day. With a pile of pieces and a few pages of instructions, that need to focus intensified.
The Purpose of Instructions
The purpose of instructions is to walk you through the process, one step at a time, so you will not get confused or overwhelmed by all the bits and pieces and steps that need to be completed. If you read through all the instructions before beginning you will have a general idea of what is going to happen and what the end product should look like. But the “why” of each step doesn’t become clear until the end of the assembly.
2019
For many of us, 2019 was like a pile of wood, screws and a few Allen keys. For those of us who sought the Lord at the end of last year, we had some “instructions” to begin moving by. In reading through the “instructions” He shared with us, we were able to develop in our minds some sort of picture of what things may look like at the end of the assembly. However, in my experience, 2019 required a lot of focus to work through the step by step process, with frequent thoughts of, “why am I doing this now?”, is this the front or the back?” and “stop for a minute, this doesn’t look right.” It even required some, “oops, we did that wrong, take it out and let’s redo it” moments.
Are We Almost Done Yet?
I feel like coming into the end of 2019 we are partway through the assembly, but not yet to the stage where things make sense visually. We know that we have been working steadily through the step-by-step process, but we can’t yet see which side is up or down, front or back, and we seem to have too many or too few screws and wood pieces left in the pile.
But It is A New Year!
We are not always accurately able to determine the time that it takes to assemble a piece of furniture. Our new sofa only took 2 hours to assemble. The Trundle bed, on the other hand, which we assumed would be much easier, took almost 7 hours to piece together. 2019 may be behind us, but we are not yet finished assembling what the Lord gave to us at the end of 2018.
So How Do We Proceed?
What we need to be clear about as we enter 2020:
We need to trust the process!
It is not the time to question the assembly instructions
It is not the time to slow down, take things apart or set it aside due to weariness
It is not the time to bring out our drill and start making our own plans to speed up the process
We need to look at the instructions with new confidence in their ability to lead us to the finished assembly
We need to commit to the remaining assembly with an expectancy of the finished product that He has promised
When It Doesn't Look Like You Thought It Would
Jeremiah, the prophet, gave this Word to the Children of Israel:
This is what the LORD says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
The Lord gave them “instructions” – the end result of which was that He would bring them home again, that He had good plans for them. But I can guarantee you, that when they were halfway through the assembly of these instructions they were saying, “But Lord, this doesn’t look right!” There was a process that they would need to walk through (captivity) before the assembly of the final product would be completed.
Partway through things don’t always look like we imagined the final product to be. That is why we need to trust the process. The instructions will, in time, bring us through to that final assembled item.
What I Know
Here’s to the lessons we learned in 2019!
Here’s to 2020 – the Year of Completion
The word for 2020 is Expectancy.
It doesn’t matter how many partially finished projects we have on the go – it is time to set our foreheads like flint to the things the Lord has called us to – commit to the process and move forward confidently and with expectancy, as we trust the process to bring us to fruition.
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11).
The Word that the Lord gave to us will accomplish that which it set forth to accomplish. We just need to continue to follow the “instructions” and trust the process as we enter 2020.
Until Next Time
Well, my dear friends, it is that time again. My cup is empty which tells me our chat is over for the time being. In 2020 I would love for us to earnestly seek to have real conversations at this table. That means more than me talking! There is a comment section at the end of each blog. I would love it if you would take the time to make a comment, share your thoughts about what you are reading, ask questions, and tell me what other things you would like to chat about at this table. I do moderate what is posted on the blog, so I promise to keep it encouraging and uplifting and edifying, real but with no undue negativity at this table.
Your Turn To Comment
Let’s start today! If you have read this blog, why don’t you tell me what your word for 2020 is. It is as easy as typing it into the comment section. We can all manage one word to start the New Year!
NEW!
With the new year comes new ways of looking at and seeing things. Watch the website for some new features and a bit of a new look as the new-year progresses!
Be In Touch
I’m at the kitchen table every day; drop by anytime for a chat! You can find me on
Email laurie@lauriehopkins.ca
Professional Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/GodsWritingDancer/
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.ca/LaurieHopkins10/
Comment section at the end of each blog
Until next time,
From my heart to yours!
