I stayed up late, I had extra babysitters come during the day, and I hit my deadline.

I love writing and creating, so I truly enjoy these last minute work times, which probably reinforces my habit of procrastinating, but oh well.

Everything was on schedule to be published at the perfect time.

The rest of the process was out of my control.

I pressed “submit” and waited.

And waited some more.

Days went by.

And suddenly, I was having to wait longer than I have ever waited before for my work to be approved.

And then it was twice as long as I’ve ever had to wait.

And then three times as long.

I had a great real-life practice of my mantra about not worrying about things outside my control. But boy was that a tough wait.

I was to the point where I almost expected it would never get approved and published for some reason.

And then!

I opened the email. It was approved! Published! Good to go!

My immediate first thought was pure gratitude.

I bowed my head and said a quick but super sincere prayer of overwhelming gratitude.

So so grateful and so so blessed. God is good.

And immediately after this gratitude, it hit me.

I’ve never been grateful for publishing services before.

I’ve never given a second thought to having my work “approved” and “published”.

But having to wait for such a long time allowed my heart to feel such gratitude and dependence on the Lord.

The Israelites had suffered for a long time.

And so when they saw Moses and Aaron’s signs and heard their testimony that they had been sent from God to free them,

“The people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.” (Exodus 4:31)

When I have to wait for a blessing for a long time, my gratitude increases exponentially.

Maybe that’s why the Lord likes to let us wait sometimes. He knows that our hearts need the training.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Waiting on a deadline first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.