Divine Delays- Part 2

See message by Courtney below to read Part 1

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Ecc. 3:11

I’m convinced that there are lessons I would have missed out on had it not been for a season of waiting. F.B. Meyer said, “What a chapter might be written of God’s delays! It is the mystery of the art of educating human spirits to the finest temper of which they are capable.  What searchings of heart…what testing of the Word of God, what uplifting of soul…All these are associated with those weary days of waiting, which are, nevertheless, big with spiritual density.”

Those weary days are torture sometimes. It can feel like your life is at a standstill when everyone else seems to be carrying along with ease. But when I think about what the Lord has taught me along the way, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I have grown in thanksgiving for what the Lord has given me. I can enter into someone’s loss or pain more easily. I can grieve with a friend who is still not pregnant after months of trying or empathize with a friend struggling with singleness. I’m certain the Lord could teach me those lessons regardless, but I’m so grateful for the perspective I have gained as a result of a season of waiting. He never wastes our pain.

Sometimes I still get stuck and can’t understand the Lord’s timing. It’s those times I go back to some of the verses that provided comfort in our dark days. Verses like Is. 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…As high as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Our finite minds cannot comprehend the unseen realm. God sees our life from a completely different perspective and I have to trust Him regardless of how I feel. What I know always has to trump what I feel.

To finish our story, the Lord mercifully blessed us with a pregnancy after three years of waiting. Jack was born April 20, 2010. Our birth announcement included a quote from Charles Spurgeon that we read countless times on our refrigerator during our wait. “The longer the blessing is in coming, the sweeter it will be when it arrives.  That which is gained speedily by a single prayer is sometimes only a half-weighted blessing, but that which is gained after many a tug and many an awful struggle is a full-weighted and precious blessing. The blessing which costs us the most in prayer will be worth the most.”

The quote is still on the fridge and Jack is almost 4 years old. We are now adding to our family through adoption and so the waiting begins– again. I am thankful that the Lord, in his kindness, brings to mind truth that has anchored us in the past so we trust in His perfect timing for the future. I am grateful to be able to say, along with the writer of Ecclesiastes, “He has made all things beautiful in its time.” ~Courtney

I’d Like to Talk to Someone via Email

Sacred Stories together

Your emails are confidential. Connect via Secure Email.

Connect Now

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to our Story Library and Podcast and receive notifications of new posts by email.