When God moves, a shift takes place. Heaven responds. Mountains start moving. Seas start parting. Walls start crumbling. Chains start breaking. When God moves, impossible becomes possible. It happens in an instant when God moves. However you and I do not know when God will move. We don’t know his timing. We don’t see the timeline of his plan.

It’s not our job to understand when or how – it’s our job to know WHO. Who will do this? God will. When? No idea. How? No clue.

When life feels uncertain, God is in control. When you feel forgotten, God’s eye is on you. When it feels too late, God knows the time.

What God has for you, is for you. You can trust his timing. You can trust his plan. You can trust his move.

And let’s be clear – this is God’s move, not yours. You can’t force this – atleast not the really good stuff. You can force the lesser than, imitation version of this. You can cut corners and jump through loop holes to find something you could settle for faster. But if you want the best stuff from Heaven’s storehouse, then you must wait for God’s move. He will make it happen, and he will make it happen at the RIGHT time.

When Abram was 75 years old, God promised to give him so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted. Wooohoooo, a word from the Lord. A promise to hold on to! That’s fantastic.

Then, nothing.

10 years later, now at 85 years old, the Lord speaks to Abram in a vision. He takes him outside and says to him, “Look up into the sky and count he stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”

Another promise followed by nothing actually happening. In this desperate wait is when sad and sick hearts make bad choices and create messes with a servant girl named Hagar and her baby. Abram and his wife were willing to settle. They were willing to accept a baby any way they could get it. But that was not God’s plan.

Right now, maybe you’re willing to settle. You’re so tired of waiting that you’ll take a “good enough” version you can have now and sacrifice God’s best that you still can’t have. I’m so grateful God knows his girls. He knows our tender hearts. He knows our loneliness. He knows our minds that so easily play tricks on us, putting lipstick on pigs and creating fixer upper situations that would be a disaster. And he covers us with his grace.

GRACE TO WAIT FOR GOD’S BEST.

Father, close the doors I would so easily run through that lead to the second rate version of your plans for me. Block the way that leads me to my plans and guide me to the narrow path that leads me to yours. Help me to wait patiently for your move.

Patient waiting isn’t just about what we get at the end of the wait, it’s about who we become in the waiting. This is where God molds us. It’s where we find joy in the simple things as we wait on the big thing. It’s where we find that actually God is enough.

After Abram waited for 10 years and God shows him the stars in the sky that number his future descendants, guess what miraculous thing happened next. Go ahead and guess. Guess how God moved. Guess how everything changed in an instant. Guess how 10 years of waiting became worth it.

It didn’t. Nothing changed. Abram received a renewed promise of children and still nothing changed. No move from God.

In fact, following along in Genesis 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17, Abram didn’t hear from God again for 15 years. It’s now been 25 years since God first told Abram of his promise over his family and his future. All this time, God could have moved, the wait could have ended, and Abram could have received his blessing. Abram had been faithful. He had been patient. He was the recipient of God’s divine covenant, covered in a promise God would never break, yet here Abram was waiting in the silence of God.

God says, “I heard your prayers, now trust my timing.” And he’s actually saying that to YOU today. You’re so quick to say, “I just never hear from God.” But, honey, you just did. He’s responding to you right now. I HEARD YOUR PRAYERS, NOW TRUST MY TIMING.

I once put God on my timeline. I kept making deals with God to bring an end to my wait. What was I waiting on? I was waiting for my family to be healed, whole and together. I was waiting for the prodigal to come home. I was waiting for everything to be made right again. I would get my hopes up for a specific timeline, and it wouldn’t happen, so I would continually extend the timeline. “God, by next month.” Okay, not next month, God, by Thanksgiving.”

This timeline of mine continued for several years with things only seemingly getting worse. Then one day, as I was studying the story of the crippled man who had been laying at the Pool of Bathesda seeking his healing for 38 years, I finally heard from God. And what God said to me was, “Pamela, take me off your timeline.”

But you see, my timeline was all I had to look forward to. My timeline was holding me together. The hope that maybe by next Christmas my family would be healed, whole and happy. And God said, “Would you trust me for 30?” The sound of 30 was sweet to me. 30 days – God’s going to move in 30 days! You bet I’ll trust you for 30, Lord. Then, he revealed to me 30 years. “Pamela, will you trust me if it takes 30 years? Will you still choose joy on the journey if it’s 30 years? Will you refuse the invitation of misery and pity and waste absolutely zero of the days I give you if it takes 30 years for your family to be whole, healed and happy?”

That day I said yes. I chose to trust God in the wait. I chose joy over misery. I chose faith over fear. I chose my attitude, my perspective, my heart posture, and my praise. I will wait. If it takes 30 years, I will wait. It’s been nearly 7 already – how much longer do I have to go? I don’t know … I released my timeline.

Isn’t that what God is asking of you? Release your timeline. Surrender it. God will do it when the time is right. Meanwhile, he’s going to do an amazing work in you!

Genesis 17:1, “When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am El-Shaddi – God Almighty.'”

El-Shaddi means God all-sufficient. Sheddah is where we get our word shed. It actually means to pour out. God is telling Abram, I am the God who pours out blessings. What is in God sheds onto us, pours out over us. His power, his blessings, his provision, his anointing.

At 99 years old, after 25 years of waiting, and 15 years since he last heard from God, Abram hears, “I am El-Shaddi.” I am all-sufficient. I will pour out my blessings on you. “I am God Almighty.” In Greek, that is pantokrator, which means ‘one who has his hand on everything.’ Abram, I have my hand on you, I have my hand on your future, I have my hand on the empty womb of your wife.

After all these years, God still had a plan, and that plan would unfold perfectly under the hand of the Lord when it was time. It was true for Abram in his wait – it’s true for me in my wait – and it’s true for you in your wait.

Here’s the truth about the timelines you try to put God on – God is bigger than that! He’s already way ahead of your timeline. He’s gone before your suggested time and beyond your suggested time, and he knows exactly what he is doing. He will bring the time to pass, and you can either experience that time being miserable, or you can experience that time choosing joy. Joy knowing God is always working. Joy knowing even when you don’t see your circumstances changing, there’s something inside of you changing.

When it’s time, it will happen and God will do it. God will move, and there will be a shift. Heaven will respond. Those mountains will start moving. Those seas will rise up and begin to part. Those walls will begin to crumble. Those chains will fall off in pieces. God will move and suddenly the impossible will become possible. The prodigal will come home. Hearts will be forever changed. Healing will happen. Love will be found. Arms will be filled. And those surrendered timelines will be fulfilled in God’s perfect timing.

This is Christmas #6 without our family together, and God has given me an overflowing Joy. What will next year look like? Well, that’s not mine to know, to manage or to worry about. It’s been given to God. That’s his timeline. I trust he knows what he’s doing and he will do it when it’s just the right time.

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