Worth the Wait...

I was reading today's entry, May 23rd, of Streams in the Desert this morning (a daily devotion.)  I always have a hard time not looking ahead when I do a devotion that is marked by specific days (hmmm...maybe this is just another example of my impatience??) so I tend to at least glance over the subject title for the next day.  As I gave May 24th's entry a quick look, I couldn't help but read the whole thing as its message was so timely for me.  I'm probably not supposed to copy the entire entry on my blog, but I really want to share it with ya'll, so just don't turn me in to the publishers, OK?:-)

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Streams in the Desert: May 24

"Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him." (Genesis 21:2)

"The plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." (Ps. 33:11) But we must be prepared to wait on God's timing. His timing is precise, for He does things "at the very time" he has set.  It is not for us to know His timing, and in fact we cannot know it--we must wait for it.

If God had told Abraham while he was in Haran that he would have to wait thirty years before holding his promised child in his arms, his heart might have failed him.  So God, as an act of His gracious love, hid from Abraham the number of weary years he would be required to wait.  Only as the time was approaching, with but a few months left to wait, did God reveal His promise: "At the appointed time next year...Sarah will have a son" (Gen 18:14). The "appointed time" came at last, and soon the joyous laughter that filled the patriarch's home caused the now elderly couple to forget their long and tiring wait.  

So take hear, dear child, when God rquires you to wait.  The One you wait for will not disappoint you. He will never be even five minutes behind "the appointed time." And soon "your grief will turn to joy." (John 16:20)

Oh, how joyful the soul that God brings to laughter!  Then sorrow and crying flee forever, as darkness flees the dawn. selected

As passengers, it is not for us to interfere with the charts and the compass. We should leave the masterful Captain alone to do His own work.  Robert Hall

Some things cannot be accomplished in a day.  Even God does not make a glorious sunset in a moment.  For several days He fathers the mist with which to build His beautiful palaces in the western sky.

... 

"For him who with a patient heart can wait. 

These things will be on God's appointed day:

It may not be tomorrow--yet it may."
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I so wish our baby could be in our arms right this moment...but that's just not God's perfect timing, and I know when we do hold that precious one close to our hearts we will know he/she is the exact baby God knew from the beginning would be a part of our family.  What a joyful time it is going to be to be able to look back at the heartache, the long waiting, the disappointments, the stresses...everything! and be able to look down at our child and experience the joy of God's perfect plan, realizing everything in hindsight was well worth the wait.

I remember how much sorrow I felt as we were TTC Lucy.  I just couldn't understand why God would place a desire in our hearts for a child if He wasn't fulfilling it.  But He DID fulfill that desire, and the overwhelming joy that Lucy has brought to our lives was well worth any sorrow we felt as we waited for her.  His timing truly was perfect then, and I know it will continue to be just that.  Lucy Shea and Baby T, you truly are worth the wait, and we wait patiently, joyfully, and confidently for God's perfect timing!