I wrote this a month ago (March 14th) but just got time to post it. I hope this encourages you today! It sure has me 🙂

The Lord just spoke something so clearly to my heart tonight. He knows I’ve walked a very long journey of “hope deferred” in many areas of my life — health, family, children, godly friendships, healing, a home, my purpose — yet they always seemed out of reach or broken.

The word on my heart tonight is this, & I know I’m not the only one. I believe everyone reading this has experienced the heartbreak of ‘hope deferred’, even some of y’all over & over again, yet you’ve been bewildered as to why it always seems out of reach.

“Where are Your promises in my life, Lord?” you’ve asked. “Why would You hold out on me? Aren’t You a good Father? Don’t You have plans to prosper me, not to harm me, to give me hope & a future?”

The answer is — Yes, He is. Yes, He’s incredibly good. Yes, His plans are ALWAYS in our best interests. He’s never been far from us no matter what brokenness we’ve walked through or who was to blame (or even if anyone was at fault at all).

But God wants you & I to know that we weren’t ready yet. He wanted to give us amazing things, but we weren’t prepared for them. It would’ve been premature.

Maybe we would’ve destroyed these good things because of our own brokenness. Maybe we had to face the past to move forward into our purpose. Maybe the other person wasn’t ready yet. Maybe our bodies needed healing before we could handle what He wanted to give us next (kids? a challenging job? a new ministry?). Maybe there were spiritual blocks to us making it to the next level where God’s promises awaited us. Maybe we needed to be faithful with what we already had before new doors could open!

He isn’t a God of hope deferred. He said “faith, hope & love” are the greatest things we can fix our hearts on! He wants us to hope (& we need it in our lives)!

Yet the question remains — what is our hope in? Who do we place our faith in? What occupies our heart’s #1 place? If it isn’t the Lord, maybe He’s given us time to get there…

Maybe He wanted to heal us but we didn’t seek Him for it (& He is THE Healer). Maybe He’s waited for our repentance in an area — we needed to forgive certain people that hurt us in order for God to bring the right relationships along. Maybe we couldn’t have handled the challenges of a new role because He had to stretch us & grow our capacity first. Maybe we were still holding onto past pain so we couldn’t move forward into His new future for us.

But guess what? The time comes when we are ready. I feel like the Lord showed me this tonight because He’s saying to me (& perhaps you, too?) —

You weren’t ready, but now you are. Watch how I put the pieces of your life together because you cooperated with Me. Yes, you listened to Me. Yes, you surrendered those broken things to Me — finally. You released what they did or said that hurt you. You laid down that addiction (& that one & that one, too). You loved Me more than yourself, your flesh, your temporary pleasures. You allowed Me to chisel & refine you & your motives — & look at the fruit now! Look at your heart, how it’s changed. Look at your mindset, how it’s been reframed. Look at the work I have done in you!

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” this has been done. I gave you the grace to obey, to lay it down, to put Me first. I am not done with you. I have so much more. Thank you for cooperating with My Spirit, with Me. Thank you for allowing Me to love you. Thank you for forgiving & letting Me cleanse you.

Thank you for taking time. You are ready for so much now. You are ready. Rejoice! This is the day you’ve been waiting for. Rejoice, My child.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

— Eph 2:10