My life hasn’t turned out exactly like I imagined.

I didn’t go to my dream college.

I scored lower on standardized tests than I would’ve liked.

I tried to get into a graduate program twice before I was accepted into one.

I wasn’t accepted into my first choice of post-graduate training.

I didn’t get married at the age I expected to.

There were times I wondered what I did wrong after I felt like I had done everything on point.

Why aren’t things lining up? If I’ve done A and B… shouldn’t it result in C?

Over the years, I have learned that my imagination doesn’t line up with God’s way… because I have tunnel vision.

I was driving about 60 miles an hour recently on a smooth highway. The traffic was light and the speed limit was 75 miles an hour.

The cars beside me were whizzing by, but I was stuck behind another vehicle that was slower than the rest.  It was blocking me from moving at my highest potential.

Fortunately, he (or she) decided to change lanes, and once the car moved, I felt a sense of satisfaction as I stared at the pavement ahead of me.  Freedom! I was able to push the gas and charge forward.

Aren’t there times in life where it feels like your dreams are being blocked for a time and you just can’t move forward?

Other people around you are celebrating admissions into their dream schools…. or marrying their dream mate at YOUR dream age…or securing their dream job…and you’re just chugging along at a snail’s pace wondering, “Why is it taking me so long?”

Is it possible that God is allowing you to wait because the timing isn’t just quite right?  What if we forced ourselves into situations without feeling God’s peace first?

We may be missing out on what is better (or dodging something unpleasant) because God sees the bigger picture.

Imagine if Esther was queen and finished her post years before Haman concocted the evil edict…

Imagine if Ruth came to Bethlehem 25 years later…

Imagine if Rebekah had come and gone from the well hours before Abraham’s servant had arrived….

When we reflect on our lives and we remember doors that were closed, we realize that God taught us lessons in those seasons of waiting and He had something greater in store.  And we realize that it taught us to glorify His name through the waiting.

In this unusual season of waiting…for social unrest to settle, for social distancing to be over, for normalcy to return…what is God teaching you?

No, I didn’t end up at my dream school or make the perfect score or getting married when I wanted to.  It didn’t happen how I imagined it….what I saw as “second best” was God’s perfect plan for my life.

I am SO grateful and PRAISE God that it all happened His way. Why?  First, I can take no credit for any of my blessings and second, God has given more more than I could have imagined.

So, as I face questions of why things may not happen on MY schedule, may I always desire God’s glory and wait for His perfect time.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8 (NIV)

~Betsy