Have you ever been frustrated about where you are right now, especially when you feel God has put a calling on your life but you simply aren't seeing it come to fruition?

During a leadership training course I attended recently, people shared honestly about how they knew they had a leadership calling on them but didn't seem to be getting the opportunities. What was going on in their lives seemed to be as far removed from leadership as it possibly could be.

Sometimes, God allows us to go through such moments because he is working out his purposes behind the scenes, training us through our current circumstances and shaping our character through the frustration.

I was interested to read in Joyce Meyer's latest book, Seize the day, about how she had many jobs before she was called into ministry, and, even when she was, she got impatient at times about how slowly her ministry grew. I found that encouraging!

It may be natural to want to reach the end goal that we think God is calling us to, but we need to learn not to despise our current situation, even if we don't think it is exactly what we are meant to be doing. Sometimes God can spend a huge chunk of our lives getting us ready for what he intends us to do with the rest of it. He certainly doesn't skimp on the preparation phase! There are many examples of this in the Bible, and the preparation phase wasn't comfortable either. Think about Moses or Joseph...

I love what Meyer says about learning how to let go of our frustration and allow God to use us exactly where we are: "Pray and ask God to guide you into His purposes for your life and then bloom each place that you are planted." How are you blooming in the place that you are today?

In Zechariah 4:10 it says: "Who dares despise the day of small things"?

We can so caught up in what we feel we should have, but don't right now, that we end up becoming negative rather than looking expectantly for how God can use us in the here and now. It may be a day of small things, but it can still be a day of God things!

Rather than being frustrated that we aren't exactly where we feel we should be, we can learn to be happy right now. How many of us have experienced the hardships that Paul did – and how many of us can say, as he did: "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." (Philippians 4:11)

What a challenge!