dreams, pain, waiting

we held our annual Holy Revolution conference this weekend at zhop. corey russell from ihop-kc and jake hamilton from refuge house of prayer came to speak/lead worship. it was definitely powerful (if you've heard corey speak, you know it's dynamic and convicting). corey said one phrase that made me weep. he said, "the pain you feel in your heart over the desires God has put in you [them being yet unfulfilled] is your gift from Him, because it causes you to wrestle with him for the fulfillment of those desires." God puts these dreams in us, sometimes things so unexpected we know they must be from Him, and then He makes us....wait....to make us ready to handle the dream when it comes. we think if the dream is righteous, God's dream, something for the sake of the Kingdom alone, then we should see it fulfilled right away. God knows better. i think a dream too quickly partaken of becomes a nightmare, because you don't have the character, strength of heart, steadfastness of faith necessary to walk it out. even so, there's real pain over dreams and desires yet unrealized, tucked away in your heart, where God stokes the flame of these desires, sometimes making it even more painful to wait. but the pain is actually a good thing, because it means you're not apathetic about walking out God's purposes in your life. if you feel pain, you're going to contend and cry out for them to come to pass - a key factor to their fulfillment. so i'll be grateful for the dreams, for the pain, and for the waiting.