By Jessica Brodie
Have you ever waited and waited for something you prayed for, something you desperately wanted to come to fruition? And when it finally did, it was almost unbelievable, like maybe you were dreaming and this wasn’t actually happening?
That’s how I’m feeling this month as a dream I’ve had since I was a child is finally coming to pass. Today, my very first novel releases, The Memory Garden, book one in a contemporary Christian fiction series set in a fictional town in South Carolina. Excitement is thrumming through my fingers as I write this—can you feel it?
It’s funny, though, because now that this day is here, I realize why the wait took so long. Right now, this particular time in my life and in the world around me, is the absolute perfect time for my book to release. I cannot imagine it releasing at any other phase in my life. Yet even saying this is such a strange feeling.
I know that God’s timing is perfect, but it’s as if, in this situation, I’m experiencing his perfect timing firsthand. I see his love and care for me and for this book, a book God himself laid on my heart to write.
I’ve shared before that one of the first toys I remember as a kid was my mom’s old typewriter. She would let me write all of my imaginary stories on the old machine, and while there was no paper, I remember that feeling of satisfaction, as my little girl fingers would mash those keys to my heart’s content. I spent my childhood practicing my craft, everything from scribbling in my diary to writing short stories to awful, overly dramatic teenage poetry.
I was 21 and a recent college graduate when I started writing my first (unpublished) novel. Several more followed. And now, finally, here I am—almost three decades later. And it’s time. This feels right.
But the waiting was long, so long—do you know what I mean? Sometimes it felt heartbreakingly long. Often I wondered if it would ever happen to me, if my dreams would ever come true. While I’ve been blessed to make my career as a writer, working my way up in the industry from a newsletter writer to newspaper reporter to now the editor of a Christian newspaper, my passion has always been fiction. And it feels surreal to know this precious thing that has stirred in my heart for so long truly is becoming a reality.
It reminds me of other long waits for dreams come true—a period of infertility, then birthing two precious children. Three years walking alongside my daughter as she battled terrible depression and anxiety, now so much better. Job woes and financial troubles, all finally resolved.
During those times of waiting, it felt like that season would last forever. Some days felt agonizing, like a terrible, endless storm. Yet over and over, I found myself on my knees in prayer, my wilderness drawing me ever deeper into a relationship with Jesus. Eventually, the clouds lifted.
Waiting can be incredibly hard, especially when you’re waiting for something you are certain is in line with God’s will for your life or the life of someone close to you.
But just like metal must be refined in the fire before it can be perfected, sometimes we also must go through a long and difficult period of waiting before we are refined enough to enter that next phase in our life. And when that time comes, we see so clearly why the wait was needed.
In his book A Shelter in the Time of Storm, Paul David Tripp wrote, “Remember, waiting isn’t just about what you are hoping for at the end of the wait, but also about what you will become as you wait.”
Sometimes we wait because God is preparing us for what is to come. Sometimes it’s because something isn’t God’s plan for us. Sometimes it’s necessary to draw us closer to him.
The trick is to settle your soul during the waiting, letting that time hone and craft you into the person God needs you to be.
As we read in Lamentations 3:24-25, “‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him” (ESV).
And as we read in Isaiah 30:18, “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”
If you are in a season of waiting, remember: God loves you, and you are waiting for a reason. Even if you don’t understand why, trust in the Lord anyway. Wait on the Lord anyway.
His plan is the best, now and always.
A prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the waiting, even during the times I struggle against your will and want what I want so badly. Help me to settle under your always loving hand, knowing that your way is the best way. Help me submit to your rule and your plan for my life, now and always. Help me grow to be the person you need me to be so I can shine your light in the world all the better. In your holy and precious name I pray, Amen.
If you’re interested in checking out my novel, The Memory Garden, I‘d be grateful! Go to https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F3D8XCMC.
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