Trusting God's Timing This Season - Your Nightly Prayer - November 5th

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Trusting God’s Timing This Season
Your Nightly Prayer
by Amanda Idleman

TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” - Ecclesiastes 3:1 

SOMETHING TO PONDER 

A reflection for when the pace of the season doesn’t match your expectations or hopes. We are foster parents. By definition, our family has invited patience into our story, as the timeline in my mind never matches the timeline of the system. 

Our soon-to-be daughter has been waiting four years to exit the foster care system, finally achieving permanency through adoption. Four years feels unbelievably long for a five-year-old to be left in paperwork limbo, yet I am forced to keep doing one thing as her parent, which is to keep waiting. 

Maybe you’ve been in a similar long, frustrating, and unjust waiting season. You’ve prayed those exasperated prayers, pleading for something to give! For the next season to go ahead and come along already. It’s easy to get discouraged, to want to take matters into our own hands and “make things happen,” but ultimately we are invited to trust God even when his timing does not match ours. 

While I hate to admit this, learning how to wait on the Lord over the past five years as a foster parent has grown my faith and taught me how to rely on God’s grace for my peace rather than my circumstances. I’ve struggled, I’ve hated it at times, but now as I look back, I see so clearly how God provided just what I needed for every day of the waiting. His mercies are new every morning; we can trust him in the waiting. 

YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER 

God,
I thank you for not wasting our days. You are with us even in the waiting. You sustain us as we walk through seasons of uncertainty. There is purpose in every part of our lives. Your goodness and mercy are always with us, even when our circumstances are difficult. Teach us how to trust you even in this. Remind our hearts that their job is to believe! God help us when we struggle with unbelief in you and your goodness.
Amen. 

THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON

1. Write down verses that remind your heart of God’s goodness and faithfulness. Let these be your anchor in this season of waiting. (2 Timothy 2:13, Deuteronomy 7:9, Numbers 23:19)

2. Give thanks to the Lord for all the ways he has provided for you today and in this season. He is with you even in this!

3. Consider how you can be a blessing to others. Taking the focus off yourself can encourage your heart.

Reflect on tonight’s prayer and share how God met you there. Join the Your Nightly Prayer discussion on the Crosswalk Forum.

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Anastasiia Krivenok

Amanda Idleman is a writer whose passion is encouraging others to live joyfully. She writes devotions for Your Nightly Prayer, Crosswalk Couples Devotional, Your Daily Prayer, and more. She has work published with Her View from Home, on the MOPS Blog, and is a regular contributor for Crosswalk.com, Biblestudytools.com, and Christianity.com. She has most recently published a devotional, Comfort: A 30 Day Devotional Exploring God's Heart of Love for Mommas, alongside her husband’s companion devotional, Shepherd. You can find out more about Amanda on her Facebook Page or follow her on Instagram.