You Are Closer Than You Think

In the bookstore on Saturday, I was thumbing through Joel Osteen's book, "It's Your Time: Activate Your Faith, Achieve Your Dreams, and Increase in God's Favor." An important phrase he repeats in the first chapter is "you are closer than you think."  He uses a story of him hiking up a mountain.  A sign at the bottom told Joel that it would take him 3 hours to reach the top.  After 45 minutes of a tough climb, he sat down, discouraged and ready to give up.  Just then an older man came down the mountain, looked at him and said, "You are closer than you think."  This phrase inspired something in Joel and he got up to continue his climb. Surprisingly, he reached the top of the mountain about 10 minutes later.  There he was thinking he had at least another 2 hours of climbing to do when he was only 10 minutes away.  What if the man hadn't been coming down the mountain or encouraged Joel to keep trying?  He may have given up never realizing that victory was just a few short steps away.

How many times have we done that in our lives?  Think about the sign at the bottom of the mountain - 3 hours to the top.  We see signs like that everyday - 4 years to a college degree, most businesses fail after 1 year, it takes more than 1 try to give up smoking cigarettes - and the list goes on.  Instead of being bound by those signs and timelines, look to "kairos" or God's time.  He may want your business to thrive for 30+ years or put you in an accelerated degree program or even give you the tools necessary to quit smoking cigarettes cold turkey.  However, if you give up before it's time, you'll never reap those rewards.

Now I realize how easy that seems when things are going well.  If you're on day 364 of successfully running your business, I'm sure you'll trust and believe that God will help you last through the next year.  It's important to praise God in those times, but it's also important to trust when you're unsure of what tomorrow will bring.  When you're on day 1 of opening your business without a customer in sight or day 364 of your job search and are going on yet another interview.  Personally, think of the moments where you've prayed for breakthrough month after month.  It's closer than you think:

- financial freedom
- good health
- new job
- small business success
- good relationship with your children
- the end of your addiction
- peace

What have you been praying for?  What desire has God placed on your heart that you're ready to give up on?  Keep the faith.  Remember you are closer than you think!