From “The Making of a Leader” by J. Robert Clinton
“God is not in as big of a hurry as you and I are. He is more interested in shaping you and me first. Submission is an essential leadership lesson.
A quote from Andrew Murray (South African Christian writer) about submission in “The Making of a Leader”:
1. He brought me here. It’s by His will I am in this straight place. In that fact I will rest.
2. He will keep me here in His love and give me grace to behave as His child.
3. Then He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends for me to learn.
4. In His good time, He will bring me out again – how and when only He knows. So let me say: I am here by God’s appointment, in His keeping, under His training, and for His time.
J. Robert Clinton writes a bit later in a letter he includes in his book to a young leader…. You are in a hurry to get on with ministry. Wait on the LORD. He will lead in a plain path in His time. He also wrote:
God prepares by isolation….
You don’t know this part of my/our story, but God plucked us out of Seattle (where we had lived all of our adult lives) and put us too far away to “return to Egypt” (back home). Last summer, it was crazy. I couldn’t go “home” (although I tried a couple of times and He made insurmountable road blocks). My friends dropped off the map – not returning calls, emails or texts. Ben was busy and often away. I did a lot of long, long runs alone, and what happened was that Jesus became my running/life companion for that season. The LORD isolated me from home, friends and even family… crazy lonely at first, but Jesus truly did become my “all in all” during that time.
The LORD is so faithful, and He gives us just what we need when we need it. I needed to read the above…. what a good God He is.