Does anybody else hate middles as much as I do? I’m sure you’re familiar with the kind of middles I’m talking about ~ those places where you feel stuck. You know this is not where you want to be, but you can’t quite seem to get to whatever is next.

Middles… they’re not a comfortable place, especially if you’re a bit of a control-freak like I am. I want to plan my life, my months, my weeks and my days. But when you’re stuck in the middle, planning can seem utterly useless.

Right now, my husband and I are stuck in a middle place. We sold our home in the suburbs in November, and are now living in a three room townhouse in the city. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely little place!

We are close to my daughter and her husband. We are enjoying attending a great church with our kids. And we’re blessed to have a comfortable, warm home to live in while we wait… in the middle… until God shows us where we will find what’s supposed to be our “last” house. But we haven’t found it yet. And for some reason, it seems like this middle place might just last ~ forever.

I was complaining to God about all this just a few weeks ago, when He gently reminded me of something I had forgotten.

Here is what my Abba Father said to me that day.

“Sweet Mary,
I’m here. Rest my child ~ cease striving. I will lead and I will guide and I will speak to your heart. You worry about so many things, yet only one thing is needed. Sit at my feet my love. Listen. Learn.

You have heard me say that this place is where I want you for now ~ here in the city. This place that you call “the middle” is not a middle at all to Me. It is a critical part of the journey! And just like my children, the Israelites, I will lead you and Paul through this ~ to the next place I have planned for you. No, I may not show you where that is yet… the process is important!

Oh Mary, let me do my work. Wait patiently. Watch expectantly, with confidence that I will do what I promise. Just like the Israelites, I will take you to the Promised Land, but the journey is as important as the destination.

So sit back, do what I give you to do each day, and let me finish the work I have started in and for you. Wait ~ watch ~ and see the hand of your mighty God work out miracles that you would never have dreamed. Take one day at a time my love. I will provide. I will lead. I will guide. And I will be with you.

– Abba”

Wow! What a truth! There are no middle places for God. He uses every part of our journey to grow us into the people He wants us to be and take us where He wants us to go. Middles have been painful and uncomfortable for me, but God said, “Mary… this place is sweet! It’s where I can do all I need to do before you are ready for the next place.”

And suddenly I realized ~ to God, our middles are like the cream in an Oreo cookie. The two ends (where you’ve been and where you’re going) are good, but it’s the sweet creamy middle that makes it complete. Without the middle, you just have plain old wafers, but God wants us to enjoy the whole delicious cookie!

Oh how I pray that each of us will savor the sweet middles in our lives. They may seem like an interruption, a parentheses where we are stuck and can’t seem to get out. But our loving Father God has other plans.

He uses every part of our journey, and will bring us through the middle, growing and nurturing us there so we are ready for the “Promised Land” that He has planned for us. From now on whenever I get down-in-the-dumps over being stuck in the middle, I think I’ll just have an Oreo. You know… to remind myself!

How about you? Do you need a sweet reminder too? Take some time today and ask God what He is doing in your “middle.” It’s there in the journey that He does His best work.

If you have a middle story, we’d love to have you share it with our other readers here on the JoyBlog. Just click on the Comments link at the top of the page and tell your story. Then go ahead… have an Oreo!

Finally, just a little reminder that being stuck in the middle isn’t always a bad thing. Here is one of my dear friends, stuck in the middle and loving it! Thanks for sharing your “Momwich” with us Terri!

Blessings to you all!
Mary