Latest / In His Circle / Seedlings: Keep Digging the Ditches | Ep 27

Transcript

Seedlings: Keep Digging the Ditches | Ep 27 · In His Circle

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Keep digging the ditches.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes faith looks like a shovel.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Tiffany Windsor and this is In His Circle.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever looked around at your life and thought, Lord, I've been digging for a really long time?
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's kind of where I've been lately.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I've been writing articles, recording podcasts, editing podcasts, mastering microphones by buying pop filters, because apparently I pop my peas just like a professional popcorn machine.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And every now and then I look at the numbers and think, well, there are at least 12 people out there who are really enjoying this.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Actually that's not fair.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: The audience is growing slowly, steadily, and I am so grateful.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: But if I'm honest, there are days when I'd love for God to say, Congratulations! Today we're skipping the seed planting stage and going straight to the harvest.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't that be nice?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Plant the seed on Monday, harvest the field on Tuesday, Wednesday, retire.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently that's not how God usually works.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: A few weeks ago I came across one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's found in 2 Kings chapter 3.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Three kings are marching through the wilderness.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: They've run out of water.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: The soldiers are exhausted.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: The animals are exhausted.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone is wondering if this entire journey has been one giant mistake.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then Elisha delivers what may be the strangest military strategy in history.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: He says Make this valley full of ditches.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're dying of thirst, and your solution is manual labor?
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine being one of the soldiers?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, you want me to dig?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Where's the water?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: There isn't any.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm digging for water that doesn't exist.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think I might have had a few follow up questions.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what fascinates me.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: God didn't tell them to find the water, he told them to prepare for it.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's a huge difference because faith often looks like preparing for something you can't yet see.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've been thinking about that a lot.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: For twenty five years I've been digging ditches.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Cool to craft, healing life wisdom, Aline's creative living in his circle, now these little seedlings, every article, every podcast, every conversation, every woman encouraged, another shovel full of dirt.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I think, Lord, surely this ditch is deep enough by now.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And yet the next morning he hands me another shovel.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Can I confess something?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: There are days I wish God worked more like Amazon.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: You click send blessing.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: It arrives tomorrow before eight AM.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe even same day delivery.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, God says keep digging.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: But Lord, keep digging.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: I've already dug six ditches.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Wonderful.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Here's number seven.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: The funny thing is we usually think the miracle is the water.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe the bigger miracle is becoming the kind of person who keeps digging, even before the water comes, because that's faith.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: I've also learned something else.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Digging ditches isn't glamorous.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody walks by a ditch and says, Wow, look at that beautiful ditch.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: People notice the flowers.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody compliments the hole.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: But without the ditch, there's nowhere for the water to collect.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Without preparation, there's nowhere for the blessing to land.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're digging a ditch right now.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the ditch club.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: We've got shovels.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the beautiful part of the story.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: The next morning, without rain, without wind, without any logical explanation, the valley filled with water.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: God did exactly what he promised.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: The ditches they dug became the very places where the miracle collected.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder how many miracles we've missed because we stopped digging one day too soon.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe we became so focused on whether water was showing up that we forgot God had only asked us to dig.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's been a big lesson for me.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: My job isn't to manufacture the miracle, it's simply to stay faithful with the shovel.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: So today if you're tired, keep digging.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you're discouraged, keep digging.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been praying for years, keep digging.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because God has never once asked us to produce the water.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: He's only asked us to prepare a place for it.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And he has a really good track record of keeping his promises.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a closing prayer for you.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for reminding us that faith often looks like simple obedience.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Give us strength to keep digging the ditches you've placed before us, even when we can't yet see the water.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Help us trust that you are preparing the miracle in your perfect timing.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, amen.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Before I leave today, let me tell you a little bit about these episodes.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: This story is what I call one of my seedlings.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: They're the little God moments that begin as tiny seedlings in my heart, moments from everyday life, a verse that suddenly speaks in a new way, or something God gently teaches me along the journey.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Over time, those tiny seedlings grow into the stories I share with you here on In His Circle.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to continue the conversation, I'd love for you to join us over on Substack at inhiscircle.substack.com.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: There you'll find articles, the In His Circle podcast, and a wonderful growing community of women walking together in faith.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can join us for free or subscribe for expanded content.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, may God's peace be with you.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Tiffany Windsor and thank you for joining me in His Circle.