Trust the Timing: Seasons of Change

“Sometimes I arrive just when God’s ready to have someone click the shutter.”

Ansel Adams

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

Ecclesiastes 3:1

What is taking so long? How many times have you asked that question? I ask it all the time, whether it’s the line at a check out, a traffic jam, a check in the mail or a dream to come true. I often wonder if some day will ever come, and then, out of the blue, it does come at just the right time. Suddenly, it all makes sense. You just have to trust the timing.

In the movie series Signed, Sealed, Delivered, the main character often repeats the phrase “trust the timing.” His mindset is based on Ecclesiastes 3 and waiting on God’s timing. There are seasons we don’t understand, especially seasons of loss, but we have to decide to trust the goodness and faithfulness of God.

Seasons of Struggle

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Edie Melson’s book Soul Care When You’re Grieving discusses “the intersection of truth – where Your sovereignty and my free will meet.” When we don’t understand what God is doing, we have to decide if we will trust His timing or choose to wallow in misery or try to make things happen on our own. While you need to feel your feelings, it is not healthy to stay stuck in negative feelings. Making things happen can have even more disastrous results. Look at Abraham and Sarah. She rushed the timing of God’s promise of a child by giving Hagar to her husband as a surrogate and started a family feud that is still waging.

It is best to trust the timing, God’s timing, even when it seems like forever, like the cozy mystery series I have been trying to finish and publish for at least a decade. I finally finished the first draft and met with an agent who liked my concept; however, after reading, she said no. I worked through a revision and sent it off to a publisher and was rejected again. I knew it needed work, but I was at a loss as to exactly what needed to be done.

Seasons of Progress

In 2020 I attended the SCWC conference virtually and snagged two pitch sessions with two publishers. Both were interested in my idea, and one of them forwarded my manuscript to the editor for my genre. She said she liked the idea but would like to conference by phone. After an hour of discussion and note taking, I knew what I needed to do.

I started working on it but kept hitting snags. I was anxious to finish it, but it took a little while to work up a revision outline per my notes. After a little more waiting, she signed off on my ideas. I started revising the opening and finally got the first five chapters off for review. She gave the go ahead, but I was having trouble making time to do the revision due to time-consuming projects at my day job and a general dread of the process.

Seasons of Opportunity

Then a friend gifted me with the book The 12 Week Year for Writers by A. Trevor Thrall. It sounded like what I needed to help me spend more time getting the revision done. I was lucky to score a coach and accountability partner via trade, which is especially good given my bank balance. It was an answer to prayer. The book suggested joining a critique group, and that same week a writing group I am part of decided to start one next month.

It all came together with little effort on my part. God was working in the background the whole time, setting up the right people at just the right time and in just the right situations. I finished more revision work in the first week than I have in the last three months combined. All I had to do was trust the timing and be ready and willing to do my part when the time was right.

If you’re feeling stuck and waiting, pray first. If God says wait, then listen. Then, do the last thing God told you to do. If we are obedient, He will show us the next step and the next step. One day you will look up and find you have arrived. When you look back, you may see the purpose for the winding path or you may not understand it this side of Heaven. Either way, God is trustworthy and faithful. He will bring it to pass or He will bring something even better. Trust the timing.

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