by Sandy Kirby Quandt @SandyKQuandt

Forty years. That’s a very long time to wait. But that’s how long Moses spent in the land of Egypt, learning what it meant to be a leader in preparation for the great mission God had in store for him. A mission Moses had no idea was ahead of him.

Forty years. That’s a very long time to wait. But that’s how long Moses spent in the land of Midian tending his father-in-law’s sheep, learning what it meant to be a humble servant in preparation for the great mission God had in store for him. A mission Moses was unaware of until his encounter with a talking burning bush. 

Forty years. That’s a very long time to wait. But that’s how long Moses spent leading a grumbling, ungrateful, argumentative bunch of God’s people to the door of the Promised Land. 

One hundred twenty years. That’s a mighty long time to wait to my way of thinking. However, in the wait God was working. Those one hundred twenty years were years God spent training, molding, strengthening, and correcting Moses. And at just the right time, when Moses displayed characteristics of a man God could use, God said the time was right to take the Promised Land.

When we think about Moses, do you wonder if he questioned God’s timing in his life or the direction God led him? Do you think there were times Moses’ faith was trusted to the point of breaking? Where he wanted to quit and go back to herding sheep instead of leading a group of ingrates? 

Reading through Moses’ story, we see times he did throw up his hands. He did want to give up on these people of yours as he called the Israelites. I can see myself doing the same. Only instead of saying, these people of yours to God, it is the words in my writing, which refuse to cooperate, that I want to throw my hands up over. 

We also see Moses falling on his face before the LORD begging him not to destroy those very same folks. Perhaps there’s a lesson there for us. It takes bowing in humility to God’s plan for our writing, patience, and perseverance when we can’t go one step further on this journey, and absolute trust that God knows what he is doing and leads us on the path he set before us. 

In our wait, we might wonder at the length of time God requires in preparation. I imagine Moses wondered why it took forty years from Egypt to Canaan. Maybe we wonder why it takes so long from The End to publication. Or from the first word to the last. 

Did God forget about us? We thought we heard him correctly when he placed this dream on our heart, but now we aren’t so sure. So we wait. And in the wait God prepares us just as he prepared Moses. 

What if, when God says it’s time for us to realize our writing dreams, we all agree to look back on the long time of wait and tell God thank you. Hopefully, then we’ll look back and realize without the lessons learned during our preparatory wait, we wouldn’t have the skills and abilities needed for the task ahead. We wouldn’t be as good a writer as we are if we hadn’t waited. 

I find it quite difficult walking through a long time of wait. No matter what it is I’m waiting on. But at just the right time, when God decides we are ready to take the land, he will say, “Come now. It’s time to set out.” And when he does, we can be certain it won’t be one moment too soon. Nor one moment too late.

What lessons you are learning, or have you learned, during long times of wait along your writing journey?

I wish you well.

Sandy

Sandy Kirby Quandt is a former elementary school educator and full-time writer with a passion for God, history, and travel; passions that often weave their way into her stories and articles. She has written numerous articles, devotions, and stories for adult and children publications. Her devotions appear in two Worthy Publishing compilation books; So God Made a Dog, and Let the Earth Rejoice. She has won several awards for writing including the 85th and 86th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition in the Young Adult category, First Place in the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Children’s Literature 2016 Foundation Awards, First Place in the 2017 Foundation Awards in the Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Flash Fiction categories. Looking for words of encouragement or gluten-free recipes? Then check out Sandy’s blog, Woven and Spun. When The Way Is Steep