Waiting On God

by
Patricia Bradley

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart...Wait patiently for the Lord to act.
                                                                Psalm 37:4,7

If anyone has read my comments on Facebook or various blogs, you’ll know I often talk about everything being in God’s timing. This is what that has looked like for me as recorded in my Jesus Calling Journal that I read each morning.

October 17, 2009:

I've found myself getting anxious about getting my story published. I am learning everything is in Your timing. So I will cease striving and wait.

October 17, 2010:

A year has passed. I’ve learned so much. Getting proposals ready for publishers and agents.

October 17, 2011:

After finishing yet another rewrite of Shadows from the Past, I’m getting proposals ready for editors and agents who requested at ACFW.

October 17, 2012:

Waiting to hear from Revell pub board on whether they will take my book. Praying it’s Your will that they buy. Thank You either way.

Early the next morning, I found they had approved the story and would make an offer. And the rest is history.

I’m starting the seventh year that I’ve gone through the Journal, and it’s been really neat that I can look back each morning and see where I was a year ago, two years ago, even six years ago. What I recorded isn’t always about writing. Sometimes it’s about a difficult decision or a really difficult problem, and a year later I’m able to see how God answered. Not always the way I wanted, but always I see Him getting me through it, and more than once, what He gave me was much better than what I had asked for. 

When I prayed, asking that Revell would take my book, I was only thinking about one book. Their offer was for three, which was really unheard of for an unpublished writer.

So my advice is whatever you want to do, do the hard work—learn the nuts and bolts of what you want to do. If it's writing, write every day, if it’s only a paragraph because that keeps you focused on the story. Be where you need to be when God opens the door. And remember: God doesn’t give us a dream just to snatch it away. If we delight ourselves in Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts. But we must wait patiently on Him. (paraphrased from Psalm 37:4 and 7)

What does waiting on God look like to you?