You're not behind

Process is not punishment.

And yet, when you’re in it — it can feel like it is.

Being built by God can feel like you’re being stripped of everything that made you feel secure.

The doors don’t open. The silence is loud. The waiting feels endless.

But what if God is not punishing you… what if He’s preparing you?

We often pray for oil, but forget that oil comes through crushing.

We ask for platforms, but overlook the weight they carry.

We say, “Use me, Lord,” and He answers by taking us through seasons where no one is watching — because He’s shaping what they’ll one day see.

Just because you’re anointed doesn’t mean you’ll avoid the fire.

Oil doesn’t cancel the process. It invites it.

Why? Because anything God anoints, He also refines.

God will show you who you’re called to be,

but He’ll take you through the steps to build the capacity to carry it.

David was anointed, but he didn’t sit on the throne that day.

He went back to the field — to serve, to fight lions, to be overlooked.

Joseph had a dream, but he didn’t walk into the palace the next morning.

He was betrayed, falsely accused, and left in a prison.

Both were called — but both were shaped.

Both were favoured — but both were forged.

“Gold is not gold until it’s been in the fire. The throne is never given to the one who cannot endure process. God does not trust what He hasn’t tested.”

— Shepherdhood, The Field is the Furnace, p. 17

The process doesn’t mean you’ve failed.

It means God sees more in you than you see in yourself.

He’s building:

• Capacity to stand when others fall.

• Capacity to influence without compromising.

• Capacity to carry what doesn’t belong to you — but must pass through you.

This season may not look like the promise.

But don’t confuse silence with absence.

He’s working.

You’re not behind.

You’ve been built.