"When hope's dream seems to drag on and on the delay can be depressing,
But when at last your dream comes true, life's sweetness will satisfy your soul."
This verse is one that has brought comfort to my soul for years now. Some of you know, some of you don't, but it has been a goal of mine to move to Brasil full-time as a missionary for going on almost 7 years now. During those 7 years, I have been to Brasil 4 times, culminating in a total time of over 1 year living in Brasil and countless weeks on the road, touring with Shores of Grace raising support for them and the vision they have.
As most of you know, the dream is at last coming true, and my wife and I will be leaving in September to live full-time in Brasil. The joy I have is almost unspeakable! It has been 7 years of toiling, waiting, hopes dashed, and hopes raised - over and over again. Through all of this, I have learned a beautiful truth: taking joy in the journey. In our culture, we have been taught that life is a series of destinations and that striving from destination to destination is the pinnacle of living out our life. But through these 7 years of waiting for hope's dream to be fulfilled, I have found that God does not work through destinations but rather through a journey. You see, He is not concerned with getting us to destination to destination... He is concerned that we learn to take joy in the journey and trust Him throughout it all in every circumstance.
In these 7 years of journeying towards moving to Brasil, I have tried to apply for several different visas for long-term stay - only for them to not workout. I've worked and saved for my 6-month living stints in Brasil, spending enough time there to be fully immersed in the mission lifestyle - all for it to change when I moved back after my 6 month visa expired. I moved across the country to live in another consulate's region with more lax visa applications, found the love of my life (who just so happens to have a degree and job skills that allows for a hopefully speedy/easy visa application), and we now have a concrete timeframe of when we are finally moving down to Brasil!
All of this came through walking out the journey God had me on. Many times it made no sense, many times I was frustrated and ready to give up, and there were more than a few nights that I cried out to God in frustration and in tears. Through it all, two things gave me hope: one is the verse mentioned earlier; second, when I graduated ministry school, our founder gave us this little nugget of truth to hold onto, "Your marching orders are your standing orders, until God gives you something different, the thing He told you to do is what He wants you to do till you have fulfilled them." 7 years later, I can now say the things I went through seem to make sense - the waiting, the tempering, the persevering - all seem to be no longer held in veil of fog, but rather the truth of light has burned it all away and now it all seems a little clearer. I say all this to encourage all of you in your journey: take joy in it, and in the process, because in the end no one remembers the destinations, but we all remember the journey. Fight the good fight, and remember that your last orders are your standing orders! Run towards the prize and take joy in the journey.
