As most of you know, I'm currently in a (semi) long-distance relationship. We've never been dating and living
in the same place at the same time. Because of our circumstances, I
often catch myself eagerly anticipating graduating college and moving
back home, where he is, because it seems like life will be so much
easier that way. It wasn't until yesterday that I finally had the
realization I'm about to share with you.
Last night I was
looking through my Bible for verses that had to do with purpose. I soon
found that these verses also said a lot about God's timing. It finally
hit me. Maybe me and Sammy are meant to be physically apart most of the
time right now. Maybe God needs to teach me something in Huntsville, and
Sammy something in Birmingham. I read further.
There are
multiple times in the Bible where God makes His people wait. There are
also multiple times where He surprises them at inopportune times. In
Acts, His people ask "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of
Israel?" To which He replies, "It is not for you to know times or
seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will
receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of
the earth."
In Galatians, Paul writes "when the fullness of
time had come, God sent forth His son, born of woman, born under the
law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive
adoption as sons."
In both of these examples God followed
through for His people just as He promised. He knew He would, but it all
depended on their faith that He would. In Lamentations it says "the
Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is
good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."
Waiting for God and trusting His timing is one of the most faithful
things we can do as Christians. It's a humbling, yet comforting
experience when we say "Lord, I trust you and your plan for my life."
If you feel you're in a waiting season in your life, take a step back
and a deep breath. God has a plan for you. Trust that He knows what He's
doing. He's given us every reason to believe that He does. We can only
see our little fraction of the world, but God can see the past, present,
and future of every fraction in His creation. Trust His perspective.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time." Ecclesiastes 3:11
