Preparation

Preparation time can take a really long time before we reach completion. It is a time to gather the ingredients, a time to measure, pour, sprinkle, slice, clean and mix. In preparation there is a certain time in the preparation important to complete every step in order to have success in the finished  product (Ecclesiastes 3). From before we were even born God began preparing us (Jeremiah 1:5).  He had an outcome for us in mind. The beginning of the preparation process began in the mind of God, not the day we were born.  We must stop questioning what God has for us, we must just go through the process because we cannot even begin to comprehend what we will be (Isaiah 55:8). When you have a meal in mind you may start with a recipe and if you don’t have the recipe you may make a list. You then take into account what you have already and what you need. When God began preparation he did the same. He looked at what we had in us already, what our personality was like, our fears, our joys, our struggles and troubles (Jeremiah 17:10). From there He made a list of what He needed to add to us. When you make a list many will search out the store with the lowest price, the one with the best brand and the one that will do the job. The same is true with the Lord. In our lives, as we go through seasons, He searches out places we need to go in order to gain an ingredient and people we need to be mentored by to add other ingredients.  This is why it is so vital to us that we not remove ourselves from anywhere God has placed us, because it could ruin or delay the success of the finished product. If one cooks a soufflé too long it will collapse, if you take it out too early it may do the same. Anything you cook has times in the preparation where certain things are done. The same is true in our lives so we must cover every decision we make with prayer. If we interrupt preparation time that we have to start all over (Jeremiah 18:1-4) just like the work on the potter’s wheel. God is preparing each and every one of us for a distinct time in our lives were we are a finished product.