Here’s the question: was the cake worth it? Was it worth the pain and anxiety of waiting?

There’s a close analogy here with the way God does things. We sit there waiting and growing more and more hungry as time wears on, yet we know that back in the “kitchen” something wonderful is being made. Something delicious is being cooked. Your life’s story is being mixed with God’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self control, and mercy — just to name a few — to create a wonderful concoction, or as we call it, “cake.”

The writer of Psalm 25:21 said, “let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.” This is what we need to pattern our lives after. We need to be able to wait on our situation. We need to realize that, just like the cook, God knows what He’s doing and it will come out delicious and better for us in the end. What do I mean by better for us in the end? Well, take the cook for example again. Say the cook took a bunch of raw ingredients and threw them into a pan and then cooked them. Would that be healthy for you? It wouldn’t, and that’s exactly my point.

God knows precisely what to put in and exactly how long to wait. It will come out perfect in the end if we let God be God and the cook be cook. They are professionals at what they do, and who are we to tell God what to do or how? The Lord created heaven and earth, and He did a pretty good job! Don’t you think he can take your situation and make it into something “delicious”? Speaking of my own life, I am completely confident that He can and will do exactly that! The promise is in Romans 8:28, “and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” We are the called, and that means all things will work together and will end up excellent at the end! Believe it, see it . . . then consume it!

Have you had long processes in your life that produced excellent results? What would you say to someone who is in the middle of that process and can’t see the end of it yet? Share a few words in the comments.

When oil painting the artist will use multiple layers to bring the painting to the point of being ready to be unveiled. It’s the kind of work that takes a great deal of patience. Many times I have noticed God working on our lives in “layers,” either adding or removing them depending on the situation.

Image of oil painting from freeparking on Flickr

As an example, we recently had a “watch-night” service in which God changed something in me — but I didn’t know what He had done. I just let the Artist paint me the way he saw fit.

It is beautiful when we allow the Artist to paint the layers of our life even though we are unsure or unable to comprehend what he is doing. This is where trust comes into play. We must be willing to trust that God knows what he’s doing even if we don’t understand what the process is doing in us.

My own experience with art class was brief, but I did notice that the base layer of the painting was not always the same as what came out in the end. The beginning was only one of the layers to the masterpiece.

Layers may be a situation or circumstance that God allows into our lives. They’re not always what we want, but He is making a masterpiece. You may not like the layer the Master Painter is adding right now, but I implore you to let Him finish. The Artist knows what He intends to create. Trust God with the layers He is adding to your life, and in the end it will be something beautiful.

Have you noticed the layers God puts in your life? Has He given you “beauty for ashes” (Isaiah 61:3) on the way? What does it mean for your attitude? Tell us your story in the comments.

This passage speaks to me of Abram’s faith in God. He wanted his riches to come from the right Source. He wanted to receive the promise and the blessing God had for him, not what man could provide. Thus, Abram made an oath that he would not accept anything from Sodom, the symbol of worldliness. If it meant giving up all the riches the city had to offer – and eventually it did – still Abram would have none of it. His life required the genuine process in order to produce genuine results.

Abram forgot this, of course: he had a son through means God did not intend. The process was improper, and Abram’s son Ishmael had to be cut off from any inheritance. This breach has had effects even to the present day, as the descendants of Ishmael continue to attack the descendants of Isaac. But God provided a way to obtain the promise correctly: He allowed Abraham and Sarah to have a son of their own, the promised child Isaac.

The final act in this drama of the soul is Abraham and Isaac walking up Mount Moriah. God gave this son to Abraham, and now He requires him to be given back. It must have been heart-wrenching for Abraham, but he had learned his lesson: God raised up one son, and He can raise up another if He wants to. But I can’t deviate from His plan. I can’t make that mistake again. The promise is in His hands, and I’ll never get to it if I don’t follow Him. His genuine process produces the genuine promise.

Oh, life offers promises, all right – false promises. They seem to work for a little while, but they didn’t arrive by the right process. False promises are not capable of producing true results. We need the “Faithful and True” to guard our promises. That right process of God changing us will produce the right result.

What are some other effects of a right process? Are there other examples that help you when you’re in danger of forfeiting genuine process? Drop us a line in the comments.

God created process for a reason. He even went through a process himself: Jesus didn’t just run to the cross, fling himself on it, and die. There was a process He had to go through. He had to see what it was like to be in our shoes. He had to feel our pain, know what we go through, and experience death. He was to be our perfect example – but it took a process.

We go through processes, too. Our lives are processes. We have to go through different situations to learn what God’s plan is. God can’t just poof us to the end of our current circumstances to make us comfortable. We have to go through the process He has us in to learn what life is like. There are different lessons to learn on the way to the final lesson God wants you to learn.

No, our lessons aren’t comfortable all the time, and no, we may not want to go through them, but it is necessary. I know multiple families from the church I attend are finding this principle to be true. Some of them have gone through sickness, financial difficulties, and loss on massive scales. But it’s a process. God is teaching us to rely completely on him. he’s teaching us to fall back on his promises and to trust Him completely.

Trust is not the easiest thing to do in that situation, but that’s part of the process. Experiences change you. They shape you and the way you think. God has plans for you and I, and those plans will change who we are forever. God isn’t bringing you through a process for no reason. He’s teaching you and making you better along the way! Let Him take you through the process you’re experiencing right now. You will be glad in the end that you did.

Does God have you in process right now? Have experiences shaped your life in ways that seemed unfair at first, but ended up preparing you to help others? Share some encouragement or just discuss the processes you see right now in the comments.