In Due Time: Waiting For God's Answer
Finding Purpose In Seasons of Waiting
As I sat on my patio today, enjoying the garden I planted more than twenty-five years ago, I found myself thinking about how much time it took to become what I see today.
The trees and plants that now surround me didn’t look like this when I first planted them. They had to take root, grow, and mature. Season after season, year after year, the garden slowly became what I now get to enjoy.
It took time.
And that got me thinking about something I read recently in Galatians 6:9. It’s a verse I’ve read many times, but one phrase stood out to me in a new way:
“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we don't give up.”
In due time.
I’m in a season of waiting right now, and waiting can be really difficult. God is eternal, but He works in time with His children, molding and shaping us into the image of His beloved Son. He’s the Potter; we’re the clay. The Father wants us to look like Jesus, but that takes time.
Just as I couldn’t rush my garden into maturity, I can’t rush what God is doing in my life.
That thought encouraged me because sometimes, when we wait for answers, it can feel like God has forgotten us or, even worse, abandoned us. But in the waiting, He is working out His will and His way in my life and in yours.
Having lived and walked with Jesus for many decades now, I don’t want to get ahead of God’s plans or do anything that would disappoint Him. I want to trust His timing, even when I don’t understand it.
Perhaps that’s one of the lessons of my garden. Growth takes time. Maturity takes time. And sometimes God’s work in us takes longer than we would choose.
Perhaps the waiting isn’t merely the time between our prayer and God’s answer. Perhaps the waiting is part of His answer.
Email me, I'd love to hear from you: info@sundayschoolnetwork.com
Copyright 2026 Sarah Keith
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