A Drought of Progress

How often do you go through a period where nothing seems to be progressing in your life? Personally, I'm in a serious drought of progress right now. I have many fields planted and tilled, but nothing is happening with any of them.

- My job is slower than it has ever been - several possible contracts have fallen through or been delayed, and we've been without "real" work for several months now. All of our time is spent preparing quotes and working on design changes for potential projects or new concepts.

- My current home has been on the market for two full months. We've had many showings and have received generally positive feedback, but no offers. It really is beginning to feel like we're never going to move forward in this area.

- My evening classes in culinary school are still going well, but I still have anywhere from 2 to 5 semesters remaining, depending on whether I try to pick up a second degree simultaneously. As such, the end of this is well in the distance. And as an added bonus, we're barely a third of the way through the semester, and I'm already feeling drained and over-tired.

- Because of my class schedule (evenings, 4 nights a week), there are several other community service/personal activities that I've had to sacrifice or put off indefinitely. As such, my time is devoted almost entirely between a job that isn't progressing, and a courseload that, while it is progressing, the end is still far afield.

- Life with the missus is fulfilling, but we, too, are in a little bit of a lull while we deal with the house sale, the new house being built, and other marriage-y issues. We can't really even try to plan anything long-term because of these uncertainties. As such, the marriage, while happy, also seems stuck in neutral at the moment.

For those of you who know me, particularly if you have ever been in my car while I'm driving, you know that I'm not a particularly patient man. Yet every one of the above items requires me to sit patiently and rest in faith that fulfillment will ultimately come on God's schedule. I'm doing all I can to maintain a cultivated field for every one of these areas. But in the end, I'm trying to accept that nothing will grow until He sends the rain. And while I certainly understand the truth of that statement, living it out is a whole other matter.

For everybody else who is sitting through a drought of activity in some aspect of your own lives, I hope that you are able and willing to rest peacefully, knowing that God will send the rain when He is ready to see your field grow.