Useless Years

When [our plans] are interrupted, His are not. His plans are proceeding exactly as scheduled, moving us always (including those minutes or hours or years which seem most useless, or wasted, or unendurable).

—Elisabeth Elliot

I had plans… plans for love, for life, for the future. But how often have those plans been scrapped by some unexpected obstacle. Now I sit quietly (more or less) and wait on the Lord. Though He may ask me to wait minutes, or hours, or years—and I have been waiting years—they are not wasted, for He is teaching me to trust Him.

I am growing. I’m growing more patient, more quiet, more restful, and more selfless. It is not I who am doing the growing, but God is cultivating these things inside of me. He is the Gardener; I am the garden. He is the Potter; I am the clay. He is the Father; I am His child. His plans for me are so much bigger than I can imagine, so much better than anything I could have contrived on my own. And when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

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Elisabeth Elliot’s writing has greatly influenced my life, even as a grown married woman. I truly wish someone had introduced me to her works when I was a teenager, but I am learning that it is never too late to incorporate the principles she teaches: namely, that passion is not sinful and purity is not prudish. Nor are they mutually exclusive. You can have both.