"And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness," (Rev. 12:14)
The great dragon was who Lucifer was demoted into being. The great eagle is the symbol, is it not, of Christ? Does He not give us power to fly, as we would not be able to do on our own? Those things sprouting on my back -- isn't it because of Him? "He hath put a new song in my mouth" to sing in the heavenlies even when circumstances say I must flee to the wilderness. Let me FLY there for Thee, O God!
"into her place" (Rev. 12:14)
So it took tribulation to chase the woman to the place she belonged! What will it take before we find ourselves in the state of saying, "This is where I fit, where it is right, where I am needed and wanted most, and my gifts and experience...'I can see it all led to this!'"
Mommy used to say it was a phenomenon that happened to those who wanted, truly wanted, to follow the Lord: they rather got pushed out to follow Him.
I guess we can see that when Moses decided, in his heart, to identify with the people of God; why, he found himself tasting the cold steel arrow spikes of Egyptian soldiers' spears pointed at him, accusing, "murderer!" and he had to flee to Midian and live in obscurity for 40 years until a burning bush ordered him back.
When a zealous-for-Yahweh gifted youth Paul felt scales drop from his eyes to see and serve a Living Yeshua, the Pharisees kicked him out of a religious organization that once praised him, and instead hunted his life with such ferocity Roman guards had to be placed on him to keep him safe for even house arrest.
It just occurred to me: God's "place" for the apostle Paul may've been, from the very beginning, more the writing of the Pauline Epistles that would impact the work of God for centuries, not the actual moving around he did in his short lifetime on earth, pastoring, giving his testimony, encouraging other Christians by word of mouth, teaching and correcting doctrine at that time.
In church history, we see when Martin Luther decided to stay true to TRUTH and nailed his 99 confessions to the door, he found himself unwelcome at Rome. He found, in fact, the only reason his life continued was because he was whisked away, rescued, from this place to another he would learn to call his own people he would call his brethren.
Yes, sometimes--OFTEN--it's unpleasant, painful stuff that may be the way God shows us the way to take in our lives. Will we stomp away in the spirit of bitterness (I know I LOVE to lick my wounds for a LONG time and think about how I was wronged or how situations should've been different, or...) or knowing this is the place GOD HAS CHOSEN FOR ME?
