Hope is Nurtured

It took Mary a few days of waiting with nothing happening to get her to that place of despondency. You know that anxious stressful place, don’t you? In the midst of this Mary gave her friend Dana a call and over coffee and tea they shared what was going on in their lives and Mary’s situation. The house wasn’t selling and Mary was concerned that she may never get her cottage.
As well, she told Dana, she had gotten rid of her “Ishmael” as she called it which included all her books, her business signs, her book case, and her office chairs which were going that very day. Yet nothing was happening though God promised he would restore the counsellors to her just weeks ago.
Dana encouraged Mary to continue on trusting God and packing her stuff as if she was moving. God moves as we move, that is what Mary came away with from that meeting. Further, Mary had been encouraged to have her garage sale the following week. As a result, Mary went home full of resolve to tackle whatever presented itself to her to do.
The first thing that challenged her was selling her big pine cabinet that her friend Sharon’s husband made for Mary back in Toronto years ago. It was large and would take up too much room in their new home. Mary took some pictures of it and put it on Kijiji. It would sell; it was a matter of time and the price. First, though, it would have to be emptied. After purchasing two Rubbermaid containers Mary spent a whole day packing up the buffet and hutch’s contents.
Later that day, during a well deserved rest Mary sat down to check out the website of a prophet that Dana had mentioned that she had gone to see in Chicago. Mary was quite excited when she found the man’s prophecy right there in front of her when she typed in his name. His words jumped from the page:

You are about to step into a season of SEVEN MONTHS OF BLESSING:

Seven months of blessing—from Atonement to Passover!
Seven months of God pouring out His Spirit upon you!
Seven months of God resolving all of your legal problems!
Seven months of God pouring His blessing over your life so that you can live debt-free!
Seven months of financial anointing!

Further the prophet indicated that “This is the season of the DOUBLE-PORTION. This is the season for RESTORATION. It’s the comeback season. It’s RESTORATION TIME!!! Friend, this is your comeback season. It is all coming back into your life in the form of a DOUBLE-PORTION.”
Mary smiled to herself and recognized that the prophet's words were a confirmation of all God had been promising her in her life. Sometimes it was hard to believe that she was actually hearing from God but here, in bold print, were some very reassuring promises that she had already received in her spirit. Mary really liked the prophet's indication of her becoming “debt free”. She and Robin struggled with their finances. No matter how hard Mary tried, she and Robin always seemed to be just making it or using her visa. They could never get out of debt.
On top of this despite her months of walking 5km a day, Mary’s still didn’t look thinner. In her struggle to shape up Mary consumed plenty of salads. But it seemed to no avail. Her weight stayed the same. Boy, would she love to see some change in both these areas.
It was much later during the Sunday service that Mary was encouraged that God was aware of their needs. It was the pastor’s insight when he was preaching that caught Mary’s attention. He asked if any had reached a plateau in their lives and felt they couldn’t go any further. He spoke of a break through. Mary needed that. She felt her life was heading for something, she wasn’t sure what. But she felt stuck.
She knew she had peaked in so many areas and could go no further. She had no desire for this dieting and the only reason she walked every day was more for health reasons than anything. She had little less passion for budgeting and only did it to keep afloat. She had stopped taking courses at her church because she had already taken so many and had no more desire to try to prove herself to anyone.
She had walked away from the service that day just a little better than she went in feeling that the changes the church planned did little to excite her. She didn’t know where she was going or what she was doing but had to trust God that He was going to bless her and restore her as He had said. The prophet’s words confirmed the hope that God had planted as a seed in her heart these last weeks. The prophecy was water to the tiny kernel. The pastor’s words had been sunlight trying to draw the seed forth up through the earth.
“Oh something was going to happen, something, “ cried Mary! Whispering to Her Good Father in heaven Mary cried: “Break through, Lord, breakthrough, please breakthrough.”