Is it time yet?

Thinking of Christmas makes me remember the days when I was small (and again when my kids were little) waiting for Christmas morning to come... oh the torture!  It felt like it would never arrive, even though we had an advent calendar to help mark off the time.  Now, get ready I am going to tell you one of those "when I was young ... back in the stoneage" stories.  I grew up on a farm, and even worse it was a dairy farm!  Milk cows wait for no man; when it is milking time you had better show up and do the job...even if it is Christmas morning! So, we had to go do all our chores before we could open Christmas morning presents.  That final two hour wait was longer than all the days leading up to Christmas.  And, my son tells me that it felt like trying to sleep on pins and needles on Christmas eve.

Often it feels the same (or worse) trying to wait for the promises of God to manifest in our lives.  Prov 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.   Do you have a promise you are waiting upon?  Maybe a prophecy spoken to you, or the still small voice of God whispered in your ear 20 years ago and you knew it was God, but you are still waiting for that to happen? 
In my "stone age" story I mentioned that we had an advent calendar to help mark off the time... however, God  usually does not provide a specific date or time for the fulfillment of one of His promises.  I have had promises that would "soon" come to pass delay 8 years or longer.  God's meaning for soon and my meaning for soon do not usually match.

I have recently had some of the long awaited promises of God in my life come to pass... or "start" to come to pass.  God is still faithful and has encouraged me to hold out for the rest of the fulfillment of the promises He has planted in my heart.  He surprised me,  I did not get exactly what I expected (just like Christmas gifts) and the fulfillment did not show up in the exact way that I had pictured it;  but I think the final results will be much better than I could have ever planned by myself. 

If you are still waiting for some promises that seem to be long overdue... don't let your heart be sick, choose to trust God's timing.  It takes a long time to make a diamond, or a pearl; but a cubic zirconia or a cheap white bead only takes a few moments. Maybe you are just in your final "two hours" of chore time before you get to receive your gifts!  It you hang in there for the "real" thing you will receive something of far greater value than if you settle for the cheap imitation that you can give to yourself, or make happen by yourself.

Jer 29:11-14  For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

HE HAS PLANS FOR YOU!