Have you had times, or seasons, of feeling marooned and rejected? It’s painful to wait on the sidelines for a while, wondering just when the tide will turn and be right for sailing out on again.

Our souls long to get away,  to actively pursue those things we can barely make out on the horizon but we know are there. Our minds buzz with ideas and it’s so hard to have to sit on them, sometimes for months or years.

Perhaps you are weak, weary, depleted and worn, your paintwork in need of some refurbishment, and a new engine (or a bit of refuelling) wouldn’t go amiss either. We pick up detritus along the way and it can stall our progress. A good clean up could be called for.

So often we want the freedom to explore new things, to push on with our next project. But maybe God is softly whispering, “Not yet” to His impatient child. It’s not a punishment, even if it feels like one.

When we are stuck or experience delay, it’s usually a sign that either we need to be made ready or the circumstances ahead of us are not as advantageous as they may seem to our eyes, our limited knowledge and understanding.

As we trust in God’s timing, His overseeing, His infinite perspective, it becomes a little easier to stay moored, marooned and motionless. We need to remember that God hasn’t forgotten about us.

[bctt tweet=”God offers us new opportunities, room to grow, expand our horizons and our faith”]

God offers us new opportunities, room to grow, expand our horizons and our faith, follow our hopes and dreams. Meanwhile, as they marinade (and we may stew inside with anxiety and stress), it helps to consider God’s faithfulness to us in the past and believe He will be faithful in our future.

You and I may be temporarily beached on sinking sands, but God will enable us to sail freely once more. He alone knows when the time and tides are positioned just right to give us clear passage, what has hindered our progress and why we need to rest and recover a  while before moving forward again.

In journeying into joy we come to accept that a delay is not a full stop. There is always hope for the future when we trust God to take good care of us.

[bctt tweet=”In journeying into joy we come to accept that a delay is not a full stop”]

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Welcome to #day5 of #31days of journeying into joy. It gives me joy to be able to write here again after being marooned due to unexpected technical problems. I’ve really missed connecting with you!

And I’m happy to be sharing a post or two in the #write31days series featured at my sister site poetryjoy.com – just click on the link to read the rest.