Sometimes, “In Due Time” Can Feel Like a LONG Time

Years ago, just two years into our marriage, I asked the Lord for a child. We’d our first 2 sons before we were married, & my heart longed for another. For some reason I couldn’t get pregnant. I did all the research, graphed my temperature, took medicine, etc. & then one day the Lord whispered a question:

“Do you want another child, Kimberly?”

My quick response was, “Do you not see all the things I’m doing to TRY to have a child? Of course I do, but I can’t make it happen.”

“Exactly,” was His direct reply. He followed it with another question:

“Do you trust Me?”

“Of course…why do you ask?”

“If you trust Me, toss away the striving…the temperature graphs, the medicine & yes, even the thermometer. Let it be a faith offering. I have a wonderful future for your family, will you trust Me with it?”

I cried for a long time as the act of tossing the stuff felt like giving up, but really I was letting go & letting my Lord take the reigns. I remember the moment I finally did it. It’s like a ten ton boulder fell from my shoulder. No more fear, no more striving, just expectant trust that His perfect plan WILL happen in His timing & through His way.

I read two stories that caused that memory to surface today. One of a barren woman who begged God for a baby, “and in due time, she gave birth to a son.”

The other was of the crippled man by the pool of Bethsaida…he’d waited 38 years to be healed, and when Jesus asked him if he’d like to get well, the man simply said, “I can’t sir…”

EXACTLY!

We do not have the power in & of ourselves to heal ourselves, fix our finances or repair a relationship! My friend just texted yesterday that we are destined to raise the dead…by the power of The One Who conquered death!

We have divine power available to us AND we serve a God Whose timing is impeccable! We cannot operate in His power apart from His will. Everything WILL happen IN DUE TIME, according to HIS will & through His perfect ways.

Are you waiting for something today? Maybe it feels like now-o-clock & you’re tempted to do something about it? Remember this: You can’t but we serve a God who can! Let go, lean in & let the Lord lead. I did & He blessed me with two more sons 💞

#OneYearBible #waiting

May 7th One Year Bible Readings

1 SAMUEL 1:1-2:21

JOHN 5:1-23

PSALM 105:37-45

PROVERBS 14:28-29

When The Lord Seems Slow was in Coming

Reading the One Year Bible this time of year is not my favorite. The various readings talk about discipline, destruction & death. As I read, I feel like I’m walking through a minefield looking for a stray flower to pick 🤗

Today, as I read the pleas of the prophet Habakkuk, I could relate to the urgency in his voice. The crops had failed, the fields lay fallow & the barns were empty & yet what did this man of God do?

He waited.

He climbed up his watchtower & stood at his guard post waiting for a reply from His commanding officer & King!

The Lord did reply in word, but the rescue seemed slow in coming.

The Babylonians conquered nation upon nation. Psalm 117 tells of the mourning Jews who wept beside the rivers of Babylon. Their captors demanded a song, but how could they sing while they sat captive in a foreign land?

Circumstances can sometimes invoke that feeling of captivity. It doesn’t matter how you arrived, whether by choice or injustice, but the feeling of hopelessness is real right now for many.

Habakkuk is aware of the long list of liabilities the Israelites incurred through their stubborn hearts. God loved them enough to let them fall in their sin, & then loved them even more by allowing them to be taken captive by a counterfeit king!

The King of kings longs to be Lord over our hearts, but we often turn to counterfeit things for comfort only He can provide!

The Lord tells Habakkuk of a coming time of salvation. He encourages the prophet with this:

“If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently…“

There are prayers I’ve been praying as I stand in my watchtower waiting for the Lord’s reply. I know He’s good. I know we can take Him at His Word, but sometimes? Sometimes he seems slow in coming...

Father, I don’t want to require captivity by a counterfeit king to remind me of my need of You!  I don’t want to be like the Babylonians who were guilty because they relied on their own strength as their god. I can finagle an outcome with the best of strategists, but I’d much prefer the outcome that arrives when I choose to wait on You. “I’m gonna wait on You. I’ve tasted your goodness & trust in Your promise!”

(Look up “Wait on You” by Maverick City💯!)

#OneYearBible #waiting