I want you to use your imagination for a moment.

You’re alone. It’s quiet. No TV, radio or iPod. Your phone is off. Nothing to interrupt you.

You close your eyes to pray.

When you open them, God is sitting in the room with you. He tells you He has an assignment for you. You listen carefully to everything He says. And then He’s gone.

Naturally, you’re excited and get right to work. The first week or two are great. You’re riding a spiritual and emotional high.

After a couple weeks, things slow down a little. You run into a few obstacles. A friend wonders if you’re doing the right thing. Another doesn’t question the assignment, just how you’re going about it.

Six months into it, you’re still at it, but the “high” has long since past. Some days, you’re just trying to put one foot in front of the other. There appears to be no end in sight. You wonder if you really heard God give this assignment. Maybe you made a mistake. Maybe you just thought you heard Him.

Seven years later, you’re still going. You’ve obviously given up a lot to get this done. It hasn’t been easy, but the assignment is complete. You did it! And finally you see how it all fit together. You see what God was up to.

It didn’t take Noah and his family seven years, it took them about 70 years to build the ark. That’s a long time. Yeah, I know they lived a lot longer in those days, but 70 years is a long time to be doing anything. Especially when it’s by faith.

I imagine there were many, many times in those 70 years when Noah wanted to quit. Come on, the guy was human. Just think about investing 70 years in building an ark on dry land. I know there had to be many weary, hard, frustrating days. Days when he questioned himself and God.

And there’s no record of God showing up at regular intervals to encourage Noah. He may have, but we don’t know about it. Noah just pressed on, by faith, and saved our lives.

How about you? Are you pressing on in the assignment God has given you? Is it raising children? Loving your spouse? Getting your degree? Leading a Bible study? What is it?

Whatever it is…keep going. Don’t give up. It’s easy to get discouraged when we can’t see what God is doing behind the scenes. We question and wonder if we’re doing the right thing.

He sees you. He knows what you’re facing. He’s coming at just the right time.

Keep believing Him.