A Note from Sherry Stahl:

I’m so honoured that Melinda asked me to be a part of your SEE HEAR LOVE experience and to bring you some regular refreshment from The Word!  How exciting that the show is on the road.  Today is the beginning of a dream being realized that God gave Melinda years ago but He actually started planting the seeds of it into her life for the show beyond that. Now we’re all getting to benefit from the fruit of that dream.

I’m guessing that most of you are like Melinda and I?  God speaks to you and then there’s this process you have to go through to see that dream fulfilled. No one’s an ‘overnight success’. Today’s devotion lines up with the start of SEE HEAR LOVE because today this dream’s due date has been reached.  The baby is born!  This devotional and the show are meant to encourage your heart to not give up in the process, but to trust God with your Due Date!

DUE DATE 

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.—1 Peter 5:6

When I was pregnant with my son Brandon, the doctor made me stop working a month and a half before the due date because I was in danger of preterm labor. The doctor knew that Brandon’s best chance at a healthy life lay in prolonging his birth.

I had to go in for weekly checkups, and every week they warned me about the situation. Days went by. Weeks went by. A month passed. Almost two months passed. By the time Brandon’s due date came and went, I felt like I had been pregnant for two years! All this talk of an early delivery for months on end kept me ready for the birth, but it didn’t happen. After the due date came and went, I wondered if he was ever coming out!

Finally, it happened. Labor pains began, and a baby was born!

Waiting for God’s due date often involves a lot of waiting. You hear God’s promise. Others confirm the promise and build your expectation of it. You see signs of it being fulfilled, and even a few false starts get your heart pumping!

Then it seems like it’s never going to happen. It’s taking too long. Will it ever happen?

The beginning of Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick…”

When we’ve been hoping for something to be birthed for a long time and we don’t see it happening, we get heartsick. We can lose hope and give in to discouragement.

The ending of Proverbs 13:12 explains that “a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Just as surely as my son had a due date, so does your promise from God! Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”

Your time will come. Your promise will come. God knows what’s best for you and those around you. He knows what needs to take place so you’ll be ready to take care of your promise.

Trust God with your due date!

PRAYER:

Father, today I humble myself before You. I put my life in Your mighty hand. Help me to trust You and believe that Your timing is best! May I know that You will bring to pass all that You have promised—on the perfect due date! In Jesus’ name, amen.

DRAWING FROM THE WELL:

  • 1 Peter 5:6
  • Proverbs 13:12
  • Ecclesiastes 3:11
  • Galatians 6:9

This devotion was previously posted on Sherry’s Soul H2O blog on December 2, 2013 and published in her Soul H2O devotional in 2016. © Sherry Stahl

Photo of Sherry Stahl Sherry Stahl Signature

Sherry Stahl is an International Speaker Certified with the John Maxwell Team, Author of Water In The Desert & the Soul H2O Devotional taken from her refreshing blog. She’s a race car enthusiast, happily married to her artist hubby Todd Stahl, author of 40 Days In The Man Cave. www.sherrystahl.com