Meanwhile – Do It Like You Mean It!

In July of 2011, while still carrying the disappointment that the internship did not happen, I was informed that I would be transferred to a different department. Truth be told, I was not at all sure how to feel about this news. You see, my supervisors had made the executive decision to move me from the administration department to the Children’s Department, but in my mind, I had always assumed I would find my way back there after having received the training I felt would legitimise that new assignment. Knowing that I would be making this shift without anything ‘steady’ holding me up was unsettling. So, as preparations for this transition began, I did the only thing that had been keeping me sane the past two months, I cried, prayed and cried some more. During this time of sitting with myself, the Holy Spirit lovingly revealed certain ugly insecurities within me. I didn’t realise it at the time but those moments with the Lord started a fire within me that I am only able to see in hindsight. For every ugly insecurity I laid down, I was given a lump of burning coal. At the time I thought it was just coal which I took with a spiritual shrug, not realising what a gift it was.

After the move, I remember feeling like a fish out of water for a while. Though I had been serving as a volunteer in the children’s department for many years and had even worked there briefly, a lot had changed while I was in administration. The ministry was growing at an unprecedented rate and as a church, we had just moved to our new home. There was much to safeguard and build upon. At twenty years old I felt the impractical need to prove myself and no matter how hard I tried, I kept circling back to the thought that I lacked the tools to succeed. The weird thing is that each time I brought my anxieties to the Lord, the response was a resounding, “Just begin to do.” “Do what?” I would find myself asking, frustrated and impatient. Those who know me well know that I am a realist who has high regard for facts. Was God asking me to fake it until I made it? Surely not! Yet the more I tried to oppose this idea, the more it settled in my heart. “Do it like you would if you had the qualification, or had received a world-class training.” And so for a little over six years, this is what I did. I would like to believe, and boldly say, that those were the best learning years of my life. I learned to rely on the Holy Spirit to teach me how He wanted things done. I learned a lot about myself, what I am capable of and abilities that had been buried within me in the secret place. I learned to love God’s people and to use that love to help open their eyes to who they are to Him, in leadership and ministry. I learned and I did, and as I did, I learned some more. What an exciting ride it was. I am blessed to have been entrusted with such work. 

The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand. ~ Psalm 37:23 and 24 (NLT)

Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; my lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my Deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me. ~ Psalm 144:1 and 2 (NKJV)

The idea of faking it until we make it isn’t one we would associate with the Modus Operandi of the Holy Spirit. But think about it, everyone in the Bible who ever did anything great for the glory of God was winging it and saying a prayer as they went. Yes, I did eventually get some traditional certification under my belt, both in daycare management and child psychology, but it pales in comparison to what I learned in the trenches of Christian education and what I continue to learn even to this day. God has trained my hands for every single assignment, carefully stretching my fingers at every turn. Some of the craziest ideas have come to me in dreams or by watching TV of all things! What a Teacher and Helper He has been to me. As I have taken time to purposefully reflect on this time in my life I have seen patterns that I want to share with you. Hopefully, these can allow you to see some patterns in your own meanwhile stories.

Grow

Don’t underestimate the growth that takes place in any meanwhile season. As I said in the last blog, worthwhile is just a short explosive moment built up to by staying faithful in the meanwhile seasons. Part of the faithfulness required to get to the worthwhile is staying teachable to continue growing. Growth will come in different ways; the goal is to embrace it so much that it begins to duplicate in your life. If you can grow in one area, soon, other areas will catch on too. That’s the flame I alluded to earlier. Just like a fire can grow and spread with just one flaming coal, so can growth spread in your life if you will humble yourself enough for God to set some areas ablaze. It is not always pretty. Sometimes there is a lot of smoke at first, but as God does the work of refining you, the smoke clears and the fire burns brighter.

Practice

I cannot tell you enough how throwing myself into the deep end of things has helped me over the years. God only had to tell me once, and now I deep dive into almost anything. The advice that stems from my life’s story is this: “Do what you envision yourself doing in the worthwhile, at the level you are now. Let me explain. Do, in the valley, whatever it is that you feel you can only do when you get to that mountaintop and let God coach you through your mistakes. Yep, there will be many of them. But listen, don’t let anyone lie to you, even if you have the training or the qualifications, you will still make mistakes. So make mistakes boldly! Make mistakes knowing that God has your back and has already gone before you to prepare for them in advance. Make the mistakes knowing that without them, nothing would get done. Make the mistakes in humility, knowing that you don’t know it all and you never will. Whatever you do, don’t let the fear of messing up keep you from practising.

Prepare

Become a professional preparer. What I have seen first-hand, is that talent, favour, skill and anointing are made excellent before God by preparation. In the beginning, I prepared out of fear. I didn’t want my insecurities to show so I overcompensated by being almost overprepared. For a while it worked, but later God showed me that preparation needed to come from a place of trust and not fear. Trust that if I did my part, He would do His. What is it that you need to begin preparing for? What is it that you keep putting off because you feel you don’t have everything you need? How are you preparing while you wait? When that opportunity comes, it may pass you by because you were not ready beforehand. Fall in love with preparation. You will thank me later.

Condition

I wish it weren’t so, but worthwhile rarely comes without opposition during the meanwhile. As one who understands that life is more meanwhile than worthwhile, you will do well to condition yourself to the opposition. Sometimes this opposition can be as simple as a doubting thought, other times, the opposition will be external and can push you to the breaking point. What you need to know ahead of time is that no matter how hard it pushes, you will not break! Though you stumble, you will not fall. Instead, you will become conditioned for greatness. This can’t happen if you shrink back every time you face a challenge. There is greatness within you that is waiting to be unleashed if only you would be bold enough to push up against a little opposition.

Connect

Last but not least, the meanwhile season is meant for connection. More than just connecting with yourself as you sit with your soul, or even connecting with God more, this season is designed by God for you to develop your connections to others. As one who would boldly say that I wasn’t a people person, this was not at all at the top of my list. God has done a work in me, saints! One day after I said that phrase to someone, the Lord rebuked me and asked me why I say that. “Because it’s true.” That was my response. Then He gently reminded me that I am His and I am to be like Him. His passion is people and so if I am not a people person am I not in direct hostility with Him? I was so humbled in that moment and began to pray for a love for His people, a prayer I still pray even today. God works through His people and as long as we do not plug in and get connected, we will delay our meanwhile seasons and at times even forfeit some worthwhile moments that God has prepared for us.

You have everything you need to live a life that is full of successful transitions from meanwhile to worthwhile, all you need to do is line up to what God is doing during those sometimes dreadful seasons. The posture of your heart will determine how much you get out of the meanwhile and also how fulfilling the worthwhile will be. Don’t sit back just waiting, make your meanwhile mean something! Make it count by growing more than ever before. Prepare and practice as if you are already on the mountaintop. As you continue to climb, allow your limbs to become conditioned to going uphill and don’t forget to take in the scenery, both in the landscape of your season and also the people who are making the climb just like you. Before you know it you will be a pro and going from meanwhile to worthwhile.