**During the month of January, we will be reposting some of the top posts from 2024. We hope these will encourage you and connect to your heart. Stay tuned for all new posts coming in February 2025!**
What do you think of when you hear the word “promise?” Depending on what you have walked through in life, that word might or might not hold much weight. People, in our flawed humanity, tend to toss that word around. We make promises, only to break them (whether intentionally or not). It’s no wonder that when people hear about the promises of God, they may be apprehensive. So how do we learn to move past what we may have experienced with others and trust that God will keep His promises?
I saw a quote from one of Jennifer K. Dean’s books that says, “A promise is only as good as the person who makes it. The character of the promiser is what gives the promise its value.” In other words, you can only truly trust someone to keep their word if you know their character. If you look throughout scripture, you find that God openly reveals his character to us. He never once breaks any of his promises, because keeping promises is in His very nature! (2 Corinthians 1:20, Psalms 18:30, Hebrews 10:23) Believing that God is who He says he is helps us to respond in faith and believe that He will also do what He says He will do.
Around six years ago, my husband and I felt like we were supposed to add another child to our family. We already had two sweet blessings who we loved so much, but we knew in our spirit that someone was missing. When we agreed to have a third baby, we didn’t realize that it would be three years of waiting before it would happen. I didn’t really speak about this time of waiting with anyone other than my husband, but I did begin to wonder if we had heard God correctly. I wondered if maybe having another baby was my desire, but didn’t necessarily line up with what God’s plans were for our family.
In the middle of my impatience, I started to sort and give away some of the baby clothes I had kept because they were taking up closet space. With each piece of clothing that I put in the “give-away” pile, I would get more and more discouraged. I cried out to the Lord and asked Him if I missed something. I asked Him if we had misheard him several years ago, and why did I feel this way if we were done having children? In His gentle way, God spoke to my heart and simply said “Sadie.” That name was His way of reminding me of the promise He had already given me three years before. I held onto her name (my promise) for 6 more months and then found out I was pregnant. I knew three things right away: my baby was a girl, her name was Sadie, and God is a promise keeper.
It was not always easy during that time of waiting. When we want God to operate on our timeline instead of His, it makes the waiting that much harder (that was certainly what I experienced). However, by spending time with the Lord through prayer and studying His word, I already knew His character. In knowing God’s character, I was able to hold onto my faith that He is who he says He is, and He will do what He says He will do. Even if it is not in our timeline, even if it doesn’t look exactly like we thought it would, we can trust the Promise Keeper.
We want to thank Courtney Harper for sharing this post.
Women's Ministry 