Janita Matson was a young woman when God gave her a

clear picture of what she was supposed to build. It was

detailed, a property, a place where people would come for a

season of training to be discipled, to discover who they

were in God's eyes and what He had called them to do. She could

see it and believed it, and then she spent the next 40 years

trying to make it happen, only to find she couldn't. She tried

in many ways and many times, she said. Each attempt taught her

something. None of them moved the vision forward. She

described the process the way Moses might have described the

wilderness. There was so much she needed to learn and so much

that needed to change in her before God could give her what

He had promised. Then, in 2007, her husband died. If there was

any moment when the vision could have reasonably been declared

finished, that was it. She was older now, and she was alone.

The money needed for a facility had never come, and she couldn't

see how it would. those years because she didn't know what

else to do with what God had put in her, but she struggled to

believe the vision was still alive. We'll come back to what

happened in 2018. But

first, welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm

Bart Leger. If you were once sure God had something specific

for your life, and it still hasn't come the way you pictured,

then this one's for you. I'll tell you where I felt this. I

went to college as a music major. That was the plan, or at least

that was my plan B, and I had a clear picture of where it would

take me. Then, I started sensing a pull toward being a pastor,

which made no sense to me at the time. I'm an introvert. Standing

in front of people, speaking week after week, was the last

thing I'd have chosen for myself. The calling that came looked

nothing like the one I had drawn up at 18. It took me years to

see that God hadn't scrapped my plan. He was building something

I couldn't have built on my own. Many of us had a sense of

calling when we were young. Maybe someone looked at you and

said they saw something in you. Maybe you felt a stirring you

couldn't shake, and you believed it, and now, years later, the

thing hasn't taken the shape you expected. The door never opened,

or the gift never got used the way you imagined. And you

started to wonder if you misheard God, or if it was meant

for someone else. Joseph knew that ache. He was just 17 years

old when God gave him a dream that his family would one day

bow to him. Then his brother sold him into slavery, and he

spent years falsely accused and forgotten in a prison cell. By

the time the dream came true, 13 years had passed. Years that

looked more like the dream dying than coming true. Here's what he

said at the end, looking back on it all in Genesis 50, 20. You

intended to harm me. Told that to his brothers. But God

intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I

could save the lives of many people. Look at the word Joseph

uses, intended. God intended it for good and was working good

through every piece of it. The betrayal and the long years in

prison included. Here's the part you can't see from the inside

while you're waiting. Those years were the calling itself

taking shape. God was preparing the position for Joseph, and at

the same time preparing Joseph for it. The dreamy 17-year-old

couldn't have accomplished what the older, tested man eventually

could. The weight built the man the vision required. The same

thing is happening in yours. God isn't ignoring the calling he

put in you. He's growing you into the person who can hold it

when it arrives. The patience and the dependence on him that

the younger you didn't have yet. That's what these years have

been forming. In 2018, Janita Mattson received a large and

entirely unexpected financial gift. She hadn't sought it out.

It was totally unexpected. And the vision she attended for 40

years suddenly had the ground it needed to stand on. She launched

Gold Standard Ministries. Then COVID arrived, and the shutdown

that closed everything else freed up her time to write the

full course curriculum she had been working toward. She also

realized the training could reach people globally through

online delivery, something she never could have planned or

would have planned for in 1978. She said it this way, I can now

understand why he kept Moses in the wilderness for 40 years.

There were so many things I needed to know and understand,

and so much shaping and growth that needed to happen in me,

from the initial vision to the manifestation of it. The vision

that took 40 years because God was building Janita for the

vision, not just the vision for Janita. That's the part you

don't see from the inside when you're in the middle of it.

Here's today's challenge. If there's a calling you've been

grieving as take a few minutes today and write down what God

has built in you during the wait. The patience you didn't have

before. The faith that was forged when nothing was moving

forward. Then, ask him, what is he forming in you right now that

the original dream couldn't have built? You may find the wait has

been doing more than you thought. Father, thank you that no part

of our waiting is wasted with you. For the one who's wondered

if they misheard you or if the calling was meant for someone

else, settle their heart today. Remind them that you are

building them for what you promised, even when nothing

seems to move. Give us the patience of Joseph, who trusted

that you meant for good what looked like loss. In Jesus' name,

amen. If Daily Devotions for Busy Lives has been an

encouragement to you, would you take a minute and leave a rating

and review? It helps more people find these devotions, and it

only takes a moment. I'd be so grateful. Thanks for joining me

on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, the years

between the promise and its fulfillment aren't empty. God is

building you for the very thing you've been waiting for. Come

back next time for more encouragement to help you live

grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a great

day.