It's Just Not Time Yet

by Sheryl Brady
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We serve a God who knows us so well that He will say to us... "It’s just not time yet."
I had barely made it into my home before I was being whisked away to my back yard. There stood my 5-year-old granddaughter McKenzie, dripping wet in her bathing suit and a pair of hot pink goggles waiting by the edge of the pool. “Watch this GeGe”, she said through the biggest “I’m missing my two front teeth smile” I have ever seen. She then took off and jumped head first into the deep end of my pool. I cringed slightly because I noticed that she had no life jacket on, but my apprehension quickly vanished as I watched her perform a hybrid of swimming and doggy paddling all the way to the other side of the pool.

This was a significant moment for her as just a few weeks before she would have sunk like a rock without having a life jacket on. Her parents had invested in swimming lessons for her and evidently their investment was paying off. Now that she could swim a little, she was convinced that she was fit for the Olympic trials next summer. A discussion between her and her parents ensued about what the rules would be concerning when she could and when she could not be in the pool without her life jacket. After they explained the ground rules to her, my granddaughter (who I think might be an excellent lawyer someday) vehemently argued “But I can swim…I’m good…I promise”. After listening to her points, my son-in-law Marc ended the discussion with “Kenzie I know you’re good…it’s just not time yet”.

I've always believed that God instituted the family as both a support system for us as well as a teaching tool to show us how much He loves and cares for us. I am so thankful that we serve a God who knows us so well that He will say to us…it’s just not time yet. When you find yourself in one of those “not now” moments, you first have to realize that God is fully aware of the plan he has for your life.

Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. If the plan for your life has already been decided, then you must rest assure that for whatever reason you are in a season of “wait” that there are things that God wants you to learn in this season. It’s in these seasons that you have to Make It Matter in your life. Take the time to study, prepare yourself for where you want to go and expose your self to situations that will stretch you as a person.

Don’t wait until the door of success opens in your life…start preparing today. From my granddaughter’s perspective, having to keep the life jacket on a few more weeks may have seemed like a punishment, even though she knew she had progressed so much. Her parent’s perspective, through experience, allowed them to make decisions for her based on where they know she will eventually go. A few more weeks of training could mean the difference between just getting by and being extraordinary at what you do. I wonder what God has in mind for you to be extraordinary at if you’ll just wait on Him a little while longer.