"Not Yet" Is Not "Nyet"

Mike and I are currently waiting for God to fulfill a promise He gave us several years ago. As we get closer to the "deadline" for the answer to come, I find myself battling a flagging faith and a waning enthusiasm. I still believe God will do what He promised, but the going is slower and harder - like someone just kicked up the incline a couple notches on my treadmill. I wasn't expecting it to get exponentially harder to "keep the faith", but it definitely has. Sometimes I wish that I could find a cruise control to get me through the next six months, but this is meant to be an active battle, waged with a living faith.

There are times that I wonder if I misunderstood what God wants me to do or if He truly directed me at all. The situation seems impossible with nothing on the horizon to tell me I am headed in the right direction. Nothing has happened yet - am I a fool to believe that it will? Maybe it was a "no" instead of a call to wait.

These are the thoughts that I struggle with. But then I am reminded that a "nyet" ("no" in Russian) is not the same as a "not yet". God loves to do a new thing in my life, something I haven't done before. Sometimes it is something that no one around me has done or heard of anyone else ever doing.

But here is the heart of the issue: just because something has not happened yet does not mean that it can't or won't. The word "yet" is powerful  - add it to the end of a negative statement and see how it infuses hope fizzing through the most glum of settings.

• "I can't do that - yet"
• "Nothing is happening - yet"
• "Our house hasn't sold - yet"
• "The job has not opened up - yet"
• "I haven't gotten married - yet"
• "There are no open doors - yet"

Someone once told me that the key to dealing with a stubborn toddler (or teenager) is to hold out just one second longer than they do. You don't have to hold the line forever - you just need to hold on a little longer than they do.

I think the same is true with our faith - we don't have to be strong forever - just until the specific victory is won. 

Sometimes God does close doors and says no, but more often He says, "Not yet..."