Waiting Season | Brittany Kelly | EP 131

Welcome to another edition of iRefresh, where I have with us Brittany Kelly. Welcome. Thank you. I'm so happy to be here today. Well, I have taken a little peek into what she wanted to share about, and I think it's such an important message that I think everyone from all ages can relate to. So why don't you open it up and let's just hear what God's been showing you. Yes. Well, this year has been an incredible year of growth for me. And it's been a year of season of waiting. And I think that that's the thing on my heart right now is just being intentional in that waiting season. So to start off with, I feel like all of us in some place are. are in a place of waiting. Whether it's for a friendship, a relationship, a season of change in health or finances, we're all kind of waiting for something. For the next thing. For the next thing. Even if you're in a great place, you're still waiting for what's ahead. Yes. You're waiting for a promotion, a new child, whatever it is. There is that process. We all have to experience. Yes. And I think it's really important for us to understand that the waiting season is a natural process of life. Like we are all going to walk through that at some point with some area. Yeah. But sometimes we can feel stuck in a waiting season. And what I have come to discover this past year is that the waiting season is really dependent on you. Literally looking at ourselves, honestly. Yeah. And seeing why we're here. That's good. Looking inward because though God is there with you, he never leaves you. He never forsakes you. He is there with you in your waiting series. And we are the one who is determining how long or how short our waiting season is. And so that's just kind of something that I've been recognizing myself. But that's a good point, because you look at how quite often, how many times we say in that Christian world, we're just waiting on the Lord. Oh, yeah. But you have a perspective like, well, maybe he's waiting on us and we haven't done the last thing that he told us to do. And so he's waiting on our obedience. Yes. Waiting on obedience. And that's really good because that's where intentional waiting comes into play. And, you know, it's so important for us to not just sit back and have our hands crossed and go, okay, God, I'm waiting on you. I'm waiting for your answer. Is it a yes? Is it a no? Am I supposed to do this? Am I supposed to do that? No, waiting is not just a laid back season because I feel like a lot of times people can think of it as a stop or a pause. It's a wake. Yeah. Oh, I'm just waiting in line. No, no, no, no. It's actually active. It's an active word. It's a verb, right? You are intentionally doing something in that waiting season, preparing yourself for the next thing that God has for you. And again, okay. How long or how short that waiting season is depends on us. And the thing that I think about and that I've gone back to in the Word are stories of successful people in the Word of God who were actively waiting on the Lord. So who are those? So those people would be, for me, is Ruth. She's one. She was waiting on the Lord. She was in a place of poverty, basically. She was a widow. She had no covering over her. But her trust in the Lord... And she was actively working in the fields. She was actively serving Naomi. And she was actively waiting for the Lord. The next person I think of is Nehemiah. He was a cupbearer to the king. And, you know, even that this morning when I was praying about it was sometimes we put so much in our title of what we're doing in the moment that it's hard for us to relinquish a title, to move on to the next season that God has for us. That's good. Yeah. And that might be another thing. But Nehemiah was actively waiting. He was in the presence of the king. He knew what was going on. He knew the state of Israel at the time, and he was in the know. But he was willing to relinquish that title. being in the presence of the king to walk out a season of difficulty of rebuilding the wall. And in that season of waiting, of rebuilding the wall? Was it easy? Absolutely not. He had people coming against him. He had people saying negative things about him, but he was actively waiting, actively pursuing God's heart and doing what he knew to do in order for the next season to come. He was preparing himself in that waiting season. He was successful in it. And the last person I think of is Joseph. Man, did he have some trials. He had some long waiting. He was, was it 26 years or something? Yes. Yeah, something like that. And it was up and down. Right? That's lonely. Rejection. Yeah. Abandon. Beaten up. Yes. Yeah. Not good traits we want to have. Not good traits. But what was God doing in those seasons where he was in the pit, to the palace, to the prison, to the palace? God was working in him with character. But was he just sitting back and going, okay, God, I'm trusting you with my life. No, he was actively working in the prison. He was actively working in Potiphar's house. He was building up his character. He was building up his skill sets because every step the way he had to gain those skills. He had to gain that knowledge in order to move into the next season. And so he was actively working. be intentional with what we are doing. So those are perspectives that we should all consider whenever we feel like we're in a lull and we're not moving forward. I think sometimes we don't see our movement. And I think when, you know, I hear people that do journaling and they can reflect back from year to year. I'm like, oh, I've started so many journals. I have a plethora of journals that I have had, you know. But, you know, for those, I honor those people who do it. Bless you. But they are good places to go back and remember where God has taken you. Yeah. And so that you can realize that I felt like I was a waiting game. But really, when you start seeing that God was actually doing something in the midst of that to prepare you for what he had in store for you, now it helps us if we look back what he's done, it helps us to look forward, to anticipate. Yes, exactly. And I think that's where the Lord is really talking to me specifically. about the waiting. How are you defining your time? Because how are you using, are you being distracted? Because distraction, every one of us, we are all guilty of it. But distraction will delay our destiny. And that's something the Lord gave me a few weeks ago was distraction will delay your destiny. And it also delays your time with God. Because when you're choosing to, in that waiting season, when you're choosing to distract yourself with social media, when you're choosing to distract yourself with movies or television, or distract yourself with surrounding yourself with friends and family and going out to this place and doing that thing, you are also delaying your destiny because you've delayed your time with the Lord and listening to His voice. And so that's something that kind of just continues to be in my heart. When I wake up in the morning, it's like, okay, how am I going to be intentional with my time today? Because how we're intentional with our time in the day is, will, like I said, push us into that season faster. Yeah, good. Yeah, that's really good. Yeah. One thing I do think that we also have to remember is that seasons of waiting are not instantaneous. And a lot of us want it instantly. Right. Because we live in an instant world. And so I think that you look at those stories in the word of God. And for us, it's easy to go, oh, well, we see the ending. We see the ending of the Israelites getting to the promised land with the, you know, the land with milk and honey. That's great. That's awesome. You know, it took us, what, a couple of hours to read the whole story through. But for them, it was 40 years in the wilderness. You know, Abraham, he he was waiting for his Isaac. He was waiting for his son. And in that waiting process, we see the story from the beginning to the end. Again, we can read it in about an hour because we see the ending. We go, oh, OK, well, that's how our life should be. In an hour, we should get that that answer from the Lord. And that, too, you're seeing is a cookie cutter example. I think I do. You look for examples in the words. So you cling to those things and like, well, if it happened this way for them. Yes. If I can only survive and live through this. But, you know, you look at those people. I'm like, I'm not sure how many years Abraham. 25. Okay. 25 years. Yeah, I mean, dear Father, let's not hope that that would happen to any of us on a lot of different things. But those are key to us really recognizing that God doesn't want to put into a square spot. This is how I'm going to operate with you in this situation. I think that's also part of that reflecting is, you know, God does things creatively all the time differently. Yes. Right. So I think that's a good point in our remembrance of God. The bad examples are the ones that just took a little bit longer than the others. And they do take longer. And I think we have to sit in our intentional waiting. We have to ask ourselves, am I willing to wait for that promise for 25 years? Yeah. That's a hard question. That's a hard answer. You know, if you are really honest with yourself, am I willing to wait for this person for 25 years? Right. Am I willing to wait for this job in 25 years? Am I willing to wait for the financial breakthrough over a 25-year process? Like, can you really ask yourself and say, yeah, that I would be willing to wait because I know my God is faithful. But I don't think that God ever allows us to see that. Like if we saw, like when we look back, there's no way. Like God knows. I think that's what the great thing about the mysteries of God and what he only reveals to us. Yeah. You know, it's like the prophetic. There is potential what could happen in our lives if we walk in obedience to what he tells us to do. Yes. But, you know, I have a dream. And the faithful and obedient will eat the fruit of the land. Right. But it's being willing to, every day, just staying on course of obedience to him and that relationship. You know, that's the fruit of that relationship with him, right, is in that process. If I dwell more on the things that is in front of me with him and enjoy those moments, I think that we can find more contentment. You know, our friend Dina was talking about that, too, is that process of... of all aspects of the waiting, of what is God trying to help us learn too, you know, of are we content right in the places where he has us? Yes. And it might be that he requires the wait Or you have another perspective of the wait. Yeah, well, I think the waiting process is part of it is habit. Like, what are we doing to build the habits or the skill sets that we need for that next season? So, for example, let's just say, you know, You're a single woman. I'm a single woman. You're waiting for, you know, your future spouse to come along. Are you sitting back and you're just going, OK, God, send him my way. But you're sitting in your home watching Netflix on that at night, you know, is that going to is that going to bring him or are you positioning yourself to be in a place where he can find you? And I actually love the story of Ruth. I love the story of Naomi because they position themselves in a place. Joseph, he positioned himself in a place for favor, find them. And so what are you doing to put yourself in a place to be found? And that in itself is an act of obedience. Mm-hmm. Not all of us are the center of attention type personality. I'm definitely not that type of person. I love to be the supporter. I love to be that supportive role and to encourage people into their destiny, into their strengths. But the Lord has been taking time in my waiting season to go, I need you to draw this out of you. I need you to step forward. I need you to start speaking. And so it's been a very interesting season because he's now building up things within my character, skill sets that I need for the next step to begin to encourage me into positioning me to a place to find God. for that person to find me, you know? So it's like an active, an active walk. That's so important. So tell me is when you find that place of like, okay, Lord, like asking the Lord, like where I'm at right now, like what is your dialogue with the Lord of determining what is this space I'm in right now? My dialogue with the Lord on the daily is, Lord, what do you want from me today? What do I need to learn today? And how can I put it into practice? And so that tends to be my daily. And being intentional to listen. Because I think as women, we are very good at talking to the Lord. But sometimes we struggle to step back and listen. And then being intentional to obey. And in this season of my waiting, the Lord has been very straightforward and pulling me out of my comfort zone. More often than not. the active process of developing my personal skill sets. He has been very intentional of pulling me out of my comfort zones. So Brittany, what I hear, those are great things as far as having a disciplined life, which sounds like first before in the waiting, we actually have to have a discipline of what do we plan on doing when we first wake up in the morning? And I would love for you to even to talk to our audience of how to encourage them and what you're finding in that process of determining in this waiting process what God wants to do in the midst of that. So if you would speak to this. All right. So what I think I would encourage you to do is to actively pray out your purpose. actively pray out your waiting season, because that is what the Lord wants. He wants to draw you in so that he can push you out into your unknown. He can push you out of your comfort zones and really relying on the Lord in that sense, in that way. One thing that I have started to do that I could encourage you to do is building good habits. in that waiting season. So for example, let's say you are waiting for a job, a job that will bring you better finances and help you with that financial breakthrough. Then what can you do in that active, in that waiting season to be active in that? So perhaps when you wake up in the morning, you start your day, and this is just a simple thing. You start your day, you drink your vitamins and minerals to get you going. You have your devotional and you pray. What has that one habit started you out on for that day? That's the tone. That's the thing I like when I hear is you literally create the atmosphere of how your day is going to start out. Exactly. Which is the blessing of knowing that God wants our attention very first thing in the morning. So you're making that habit of choosing like, okay, this is how I'm going to project how my day is going to be. Because I'm basically, I'm giving my day to the Lord. Yes. The first in the morning. And welcoming the Lord to take control of it. I surrender my will, my ways. for what you have. And so now I am in a mindset that's totally different. They're like, oh, it's the morning. I didn't want to wake up with that alarm. Those little things are huge things. They are. And that's, that's the thing is like, people think that they have to do some big, you know, humongous thing to change their life. But no, It's actually the small things that lead to a cascade of of a great change. And so if you can just start with those little little habits in the beginning, it'll actually project you into a better place and a bigger change. And you'll find that you change faster. with it. Because just like you said, you set yourself up for success with those little things, taking your vitamins and your minerals. You're like, well, what is that going to do? Well, you've actually just changed the trajectory of your day because you've fed your body what it needs. So now your mental focus is there and your physical focus is there and you're able to do more in that day. When you've read your word and you've been in prayer, then you've changed your It's your spiritual vitamins. And you've changed that perspective. And now you're in tune with the Holy Spirit to hear what he needs you to do in a in a small moment. And it might be something very important to set you off into a realm of. of getting you to the next step. That's so good. Yeah. You know, we're going to talk more in our next episode with Brittany, even about how we actually can execute that. Let's look at it. Practical ways in which we, in this waiting game is what God's want to teach us in the process. And sometimes it's really much better than when we realize, and it's not more to blame God and get upset with God. It is more like welcoming what he is wanting to do in the midst for me. And, I love how I just really looking at it from a different perspective, from a God perspective of the growth that you want to have in that. So, Brittany, I'm looking forward to part two to see what God has in store for us. I am, too.