The Ark

I remember when I told God that I wanted to build an ark. Maybe you remember my first blog post about it. The story of Noah and how he was faithful to build an ark in a desert. When everyone else was thinking he was stupid he trusted God and the voice he had heard.

I knew that what I said would influence my life, decisions and roads I would walk. I didn’t expect it to be so hard. To be so challenging and frustrating.

The Good Times

Looking back I really appreciate the point where I am at today. The way to this point as I said above was hard. But without going this way I wouldn’t be here. It was necessary. It did cost some thing. It was worth it.

There are times where I don’t feel any pressure. Just peace and joy. I use these times to “bear” the fruit which I had planted in the hard times. These times aren’t periods. They can appear during a day. Sometimes those moments last for some days.

The Hard Times

During my quiet time today I read an interesting quote which perfectly fits in here:

“Worry is taking responsibility for things you were never intended to handle.”

I just want to leave this statement without a comment.

Rather, I’d like to tell you about how to deal with times where you are battling. There is a reason why there are battles. And they need to be fought. Not only by us but with and for God.

• Times where you think it’s not going anywhere.
• Times where it doesn’t seem to work out.
• Times where you have to cut off and let go of some things.

In those times you are planting. Watering and caring the baby plants or even before it is a baby plant – the seed. What ever your baby plants may be. You might not even see your baby plant. You know why? The roots are first in the ground. It needs your trust and it needs time to grow. To describe those times with a marathon. You aren’t encouraged because you have just left the start and you want to win. And neither is the end enough to make you feel excited because you can’t see it yet. You are in between. During these times I have learned to choose joy. To trust God, focus my heart and simply choose to be happy. Not faking anything, just embracing the moment, the situation I am in and thanking God for it. These are the times where maybe no one stands on the side to cheer you on. No one sees what you are doing. But you are not doing it for them. It’s your run. It doesn’t matter how fast you run.

At the same time, since then, my life has never been so adventurous, God revealing and life giving. I think that the first layer and second layer of my ark is built. There are so many more to come until this ark is ready for the water. I actually don’t know if it ever will be ready to go on to the water – it might not even have to.

I want to encourage you to stay on your way. Go for what you need to go for. There are different seasons in life. Embrace all of them.