Despite hours of research, interview prep and years of hard work, I was passed over for the job promotion. On a sunny afternoon when I’d been anticipating good news, it was a hard blow and I couldn’t keep the tears at bay.
I lowered my head, thankful for the dark windows in my small sedan, but as a young woman learning to navigate the workforce all those years ago, it was more than just the sting of rejection and the disappointment of a missed opportunity that bothered me.
It was the ache of feeling left behind. The experience of missing out wrapped in raw emotion, as though everyone else moved forward in natural progression while I marched to a slow, awkward beat in the rhythm of life.
Even now, when I find myself sitting in the pain of a delayed dream, there are moments when those feelings show up again in full force.
What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I figure this out?
Will I ever move beyond this season of waiting?
If you’ve been there lately, you might know exactly what I’m talking about.
It’s hard.
You and I see the ship sailing away, with little promise of ever returning again.
But when it’s tempting to give in to the shame, doubt or insecurity, can we learn from lessons of the past and re-frame that mindset instead?
When expectations are crushed, can we embrace a greater purpose in the waiting?
I know.
It’s much easier said than done, right?
But if it looks like hope is floating on the wind, maybe the exact opposite is actually true, and when we take time to see things in a fresh light, there could be perspective that will allow us to realize we’re in preparation for something even greater down the road.
As a young person, the year after my disappointment at work proved to be one of slow, subtle growth, a period of learning rather than the strong forward momentum for which I’d hoped, so imagine my surprise when a better offer came along in a very unexpected turn of events just twelve or thirteen months later. It was filled with more potential than the first – in a better location, and with a better team.
Honestly, I was blown away. It involved a transition I hadn’t seen coming, and didn’t even know to prepare for.
But you know what?
Without realizing it, I’d been preparing all along.
And whether it’s apparent right now or not, you are too.
The ups and the downs. The heartache. The slow, subtle growth. It all counts toward what is just around the corner, and as unpleasant as it may feel in the current reality, a delayed dream or a deferred goal might be part of the plan.
Life is lived in the waiting. It’s part of who we are, and the forming of who we will become.
We wait for jobs and financial security. We wait for needs of the heart and relational hope.
We wait for test results and good news. We wait for direction and answered prayers.
But through it all, do we grow? Is the end result perhaps not as important as the journey in between?
Over the years, I’ve come to realize God is not bound by the time clock you and I set, and I’m also learning that seasons of waiting aren’t characterized by the absence of His presence, but are instead an invitation for sweet communion with Him that may not otherwise be possible.
An invitation to trust He knows best.
An invitation to embrace the long held truth that God moves in ways you and I don’t always understand to foster growth and maturity in our lives, and we can rest in the assurance that a closed door today doesn’t dim the light of opportunity for tomorrow when our future rests in His hands.
Through it all, it’s my desire to hold steady and trust Him.
May I encourage you to do the same?
Let’s remember, even when winter seems long, spring is still coming.
The dark, hard road of testing may leave us wondering, hoping and waiting. But don’t lose faith. It may just be the bridge to a greater blessing ahead.
“Hope deferred maketh the heart sick; But when desire cometh, it is a tree of life.”
Proverbs 13:12
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