a promise from God

today marks a year since i received a beautiful promise from God. sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago, other times it seems like it was yesterday. i am still waiting for this promise be fulfilled in my life, and most days i don't have any faith or patience regarding this. other days, i hear God whispering words of encouragement in my ear.

i love reading about noah. God let noah in on a secret and had him prepare and work hard for years and years. his friends and probably EVERYONE doubted and laughed at him. was he the paranoid weirdo of the century or what? then came the storm. i cannot begin to imagine the ferocity of a storm that would flood the entire world. after the storm ended, noah and his family floated around for more than 150 days! i have always wondered why they had to wait. what needed to transpire during that time? what growth or changes in the land or the people in the ark? anyways, when they finally stepped foot on renewed, clean solid ground God promises to never flood the entire earth again. He sent a rainbow. I LOVE RAINBOWS! (not silly man-made things with rainbows on them, but the real thing. in fact, if i am driving and i see a rainbow i get really excited and extremely distracted.)

one of the things i have learned this year is that God definitely has a plan. His plans often entail me to prepare, be doubted (by myself and others), go through gut-wrenching storms and chaos, and wait longer than expected. there are changes and growth that need to happen before the promise comes to pass. sadly, sometimes i drag my feet and resist the change that God wants for me, to set me free. but tonight i choose to place my life in His loving hands and wait faithfully for His plans to unfold like a beautiful flower. i know that there is a process of healing and growth that God is wanting to go through first, and i choose not to be discouraged or frustrated, but strengthened and motivated by His word.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
Romans 4:18-21