“But may the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”
—1 Peter 5:10
When a guest preacher taught this verse a few years back, I thought the “little while” in the verse meant a short period of time.
Finally, God had remembered me, so I thought.
I was wrong!!!!
See, life was hard. I had shut down my business; the office space I was renting had to go. To make it worse, I was showing up on Instagram, and nothing seemed to be working. Some people in my life had started distancing themselves from me. I mean, who would want to be friends with someone who claimed God told them to do something that not only sounded ridiculous but also wasn’t working?
The attack on my mind at that point was extreme. I honestly thought I was losing it.
All I wanted was relief from the pain of betrayal, shame, and abandonment that I was feeling.
As I kept going back to that verse month after month, long after that Sunday, I started to realize that this was not going to happen as fast as I had envisioned. And the Holy Spirit started to remind me that God’s time was never the same as mine.
Scripture tells us in the Second Epistle of Peter 3:8 that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. That verse is not meant to confuse us; it is meant to humble us. It reminds us that God does not measure time the way we do. He is eternal. He stands outside of time, seeing the beginning and the end at once.
What feels delayed to us is not delayed to Him. What feels unbearably long to us may be a brief moment in the span of eternity.
When Peter wrote those words, he was warning believers about scoffers who would come among them and ask why the promise of Jesus’ second coming had not yet been fulfilled to make them doubt. Peter was reminding them that the Lord is not slack concerning His promises.
And this is true for us too. People will make fun of you when you share what God has promised. And it will be difficult for you to explain to most of them why it is taking so long. You will be mocked and looked down upon by some of them.
But God is never late. His timing is not a reflection of neglect; it is a reflection of perspective. He sees what we cannot see. He knows what must align, what must mature, what must heal, and what must be removed before the promise arrives.
If one day is like a thousand years to Him, then He is not rushed by our deadlines. He is not pressured by our discomfort. He is not scrambling to make things happen.
Instead, God is intentional.
And if a thousand years are like one day, then nothing in our lives is dragging on beyond His awareness. The season that feels stretched thin to you is still firmly within His sovereign view. He has not lost track of your process.
Understanding this shifted something in me. It meant that my waiting was not wasted time; it was held time. It was time measured by a God who operates from eternity, not urgency.
So maybe the delay is not about slowness. Maybe it is about depth.
It is God who knows the timing, and we as His children need to be okay with that.
I wish I didn’t waste so much time worrying and doubting.
But you know what? Maybe I needed to go through it this way so that I could tell you this: take it slow.
Choosing God’s timing does not mean the storm immediately settles.
In fact, sometimes it intensifies.
There will be seasons when the storms of life refuse to stop. You pray. You fast. You declare. You stand firmly on what God said. And instead of things getting easier, they grow harder.
That can feel deeply confusing.
We assume surrender should produce relief. We think that once we say, “Okay God, Your will, not mine,” the pressure will lift. But often, surrender is the doorway into deeper refining.
The “rain” in this book represents those relentless trials that seem to pour from every direction. Doors close just when you thought you were making progress. People walk away when you need support the most. Finances tighten. Health waivers. Prayers feel unanswered. Spiritual warfare seems unusually aggressive.
It’s the place where your strength runs out. Your faith feels stretched thin.
And you quietly wonder if you somehow missed God.
I remember thinking, Surely if God had spoken, it wouldn’t look like this.
There were tears. Frustration. Honest prayers that sounded more like complaints. I told God I was done more than once. I wanted relief, not revelation. I wanted answers, not endurance.
Then came the gentle warning from the Holy Spirit:
“Sally, if you don’t go through this process now when there is grace for it, you will go through it later, but the grace for this season will have lifted.”
That was sobering.
Not long after, a friend called in distress. She had rushed ahead of God in a previous season and was now facing the same lessons again, but this time everything felt heavier. Harder. Emptier. The grace that once cushioned her obedience wasn’t present in the same way.
That conversation confirmed what the Spirit had already spoken to me.
Obedience, even when painful and slow, is safer than forcing your way into a promise prematurely.
That warning anchored me.
From that moment, I chose to stay, even when it hurt. I didn’t understand everything, but I knew there was grace available for this process. And that changed my posture.
I began to see that God wasn’t punishing me. He was preparing me.
What felt like restriction was actually refinement. What felt like a delay was development.
Manifestation is preceded by preparation.
Closed doors during a season of promise do not mean you were wrong to believe God. They often mean He is shaping you to steward what you are praying for.
Preparation is not punishment. It is protection.
The waiting was not rejection. It was refinement.
And sometimes, following God’s timing will feel harder before it feels better, but that does not mean you are off course.
It may mean you are exactly where you need to be.
The Waiting Womb
Waiting seasons are a lot like pregnancy.
When a woman conceives, she doesn’t see instant results. The miracle begins quietly, hidden deep within. In the early weeks, she may not realize what’s happening inside her. But with time, the evidence begins to show.
The same is true with God’s promises. When He speaks a word over your life about your calling, your future, or your family, it begins as a seed planted in your spirit. You may not see it at first, but something is growing beneath the surface.
The waiting isn’t wasted; it’s womb time.
Just like a mother adjusts her life around the baby she’s carrying, nourishing herself, resting more, and avoiding what could harm the child, we’re also called to protect what God is growing within us. We can’t rush the process. Every trimester matters.
Growth takes time. And just as a baby is formed in the dark before being revealed to the world, so are God’s promises.
When the time is right, you will birth what God placed inside you. But until then, you rest, nurture, and trust. Because sometimes, heaven’s waiting room is really a birthing room in disguise.
Encouragement for the Wait
If you’re in a season that feels endless, remember this: God is not withholding anything from you. He’s aligning everything for you. Divine delay doesn’t mean divine denial. It means He’s working behind the scenes, ensuring that when the promise comes, you’ll be ready to carry it.
The same God who shut Noah in the ark is the One holding you now. You’re safe in His timing. The flood will subside, the promise will come to life, and when it does, you’ll understand why the waiting was necessary.
Hold on, friend. The rain won’t last forever, but what God is forming in you will.
Scripture
Habakkuk 2:3 (WEB)
For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hastens toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay.
Reflections
- What does the “rain” represent in your current season? Where have you felt like the storm won’t stop?
- How does seeing your waiting season as a “womb” change the way you view the delay?
- What is God teaching you about patience, trust, or timing while you wait for His promise to be fulfilled?
Heart Work
Find a quiet place to pray and journal about your current waiting season.
Ask God to show you what He’s forming in you during this time.
Write down the promises He has spoken over your life, even the ones that feel distant or delayed. Then, next to each promise, write this declaration:
“Lord, I trust Your timing. I believe this seed is growing even when I can’t see it.”
Take a few moments to thank Him, not just for what He’s going to do, but for what He’s already doing beneath the surface.
“The rain may not stop right away, but it’s watering something beautiful.”