Festival in the Desert: 7 Days of Hope in the Hard TimesSample

The Beauty of God's Timing I had gotten the news that I would be furloughed from the first full-time job I had secured in years. This job was the answer to countless prayers for provision and an end to stringing multiple part-time gigs together to make ends meet. Unfortunately, no one knew we would enter a pandemic that would shut the world down. My role was not really one that could be readily transitioned to remote, so furlough it was. I knew that God could redeem the time and that He would provide it since I had already been about three years into my desert season. I figured that since He had been with me this far, He wasn’t about to leave me hanging. In an act of faith, I asked God what to do with my time at home since I would be home and needed to keep busy. His answer was short and simple: “Write your book.” Putting my unemployment funds to use, I hired a business/life coach and set out to do just that. Looking back, I realize that the timeline of everything that happened was miraculous. The entire book was written in 3 months, and the entire project was officially handed off to publishers with edits included right in time for my company to call and offer me my job back. The months of staying at home with ample time to finally process all my emotions and clear through trauma became a transformational healing process I sat at my laptop daily, allowing God to pour out the words of the book for me and teach me in the process. I was finally in a place where I could sit and be still enough to let Him minister to me. Without running a million miles per hour, juggling multiple jobs, constantly stressing about money, and harboring the pain from the years prior that I kept shoving aside, I sat and wrote and let Him speak. He gave me timelines and dates to complete things and met me with each deadline and typed sentence. I didn’t understand then that this intimate process of co-laboring with God was laying the track to my healing, breakthrough, and ministry. Being furloughed served as a divine opportunity to get focused and still before the Lord. From that, the pain and sorrow that I wailed my way through over several years got transcribed into a book that is offering hope and healing to countless readers. It has opened the doors to speaking engagements where I can share the testimony of God’s Hand over me as I went through my desert season, proving that even the darkest moments can be used by Him to bring Light to the world. He made my mess, my message for His Glory. It took 3 years, 3 moves, 2 deaths, a couple of heartbreaks, 1 job loss, a pandemic, and an entire written book for me to start to see the redemption plan He had in store for my sorrow. It may take time, but His Process is Perfect, and so is His Timing. Keep trusting; it will be worth it. If we ask for Eyes to See Him in each moment and for Wisdom on how to steward the time He gives us, He is Faithful to show us and guide us. May you find encouragement to keep pressing in. Allow Him to direct your steps as you are in the waiting, trusting that this testing period may be the setup for a great testimony of God’s Goodness that will impact others for His Glory. Power Verse: Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time." Power Thought: God's Timing is Perfect, and He brings Beauty out of every season, including the wilderness. Reasons to Rejoice: God is at work even in the waiting, preparing something beautiful. Prayer Prompt: Heavenly Father, thank You that You are Perfect in all Your Ways. In my waiting and seasons of seeming wandering, You are still on the Throne and in full control of everything concerning me. Help me to rest in Your Presence and cultivate patience in the seasons of waiting so that I do not grow weary in doing good but rather learn to draw from Your Strength and be equipped for every good work. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. Opportunity for Reflection: How have you seen God's Timing bring Beauty into difficult seasons? How can you use recounting to encourage your faith in the waiting?