The picture you see here is a young maple tree in our front yard. It’s about 3 years old and last year was its’ first year to show color. This year it suddenly burst into these beautiful colors literally overnight! I was astonished to wake up and see it in full color one morning this past week.
That got me thinking. There is always a long season of waiting that precedes a “suddenly” like this. There are lots of things happening before a ‘suddenly’ that have been underway for a long time. So many things in life are like this. Here are a few I think of, some you may have experienced yourself:
- Waiting a long time for a job or career you really want, then suddenly it comes through for you.
- Waiting, hoping and praying a long time for a child or children to be born, then suddenly you become pregnant or an adoption comes through.
- Waiting and working hard for financial breakthroughs in your lives and suddenly it happens.
- Waiting, hoping and praying for a loved one to come to faith in Jesus, then suddenly they do!
- Waiting, hoping and praying for that husband or wife you long to spend your life with, and suddenly you find her/him.
- Waiting, longsuffering, and praying in a difficult relationship with a spouse, child, family member or friend, then suddenly something ‘moves’, change begins and is promising.
- Struggling with physical disability for a long time, then suddenly something happens and there is breakthrough, progress, movement.
- Suffering with illness for a long time, then suddenly something breaks and you’re healed.
I think that the reason these suddenlies from God hold such power is because they are rooted in our seasons of waiting. Sudden breakthroughs don’t just appear out of thin air, they come out of processes – often long, painful, uncomfortable, uncertain processes. There are seasons of hiddenness, intense intercession, sacrifice, preparation, spiritual warfare and the like that we must endure to come to the end of ourselves. When we finally truly YIELD everything to God and allow Him to be in control, we come to peace with Him. It seems that often when we are absolutely at the end of grace, the end of our striving, the end of our ability to cope, that’s when He comes through. And when He does it feels like that explosion of color, light, life and joy I felt when that little tree showed its’ beautiful colors!
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12 ESV
I felt that the Lord prompted me to write about this because it is a season of suddenlies for many of you – I’ve been seeing this in the lives of several people I know. I believe the Lord is speaking this to me as an encouragement and a promise from Him. He is faithful and He has perfect timing, even though often it hasn’t felt like it. I love this passage of Scripture that describes what happens to us in the waiting:
“24 That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us.
25 But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.
27 He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God.
28 That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” Romans 8:24-28 The Message
Without the waiting and the enlargement that takes place in that time, there would be no baby born, no sudden burst of life!
Take heart! At just the right time, your suddenly is coming!
With love and prayers,
Terri
P.S. I love to coach people as they are going through these processes and often they receive breakthroughs during or on the heels of our coaching. I’ve especially felt the Lord is highlighting 2022 as a year of suddenlies for many people! You can check out my coaching offerings here:
