God’s word says, hope deferred makes the heart sick but desire fulfilled is a tree of life. If so, then why would it seem that God withholds good things from us? Specifically for this conversation, withhold marriage and children from my guest Lainie Stubblefield?
If you’ve longed for something for many years and it feels as though you’ve been overlooked, let Lainie’s story encourage your heart because she shares how she struggles with God about her pain and the revelations she receives by engaging God’s heart in her journey of deeply desiring to be a wife and mom.
Hope deferred can be about many different desires of the heart. It’s longing for something but not seeing it come to fruition. As mentioned, Lainie’s heart desire has been for marriage and children and as a Christian she’s chosen to wait on God’s timing.
A double edged sword for sure. On the one hand, I consider it a sliver of gold, being confident that God knows the man whom has He chosen to be my spouse. At the very least, when marriage gets tough I could rest in the fact that everything’s going to be okay because God picked this one for me. And yet, when it’s taking so long for God to answer, it’s very easy to also blame Him when things don’t turn out like I want or had envisioned.
Lainie reminded me of my friend Kathrine. They are steadfast in their waiting. I’m not saying it’s easy. Both women are transparent about their experiences with pain and struggle but they stay the course until God moves His hand. And by move His hand, I am also not saying that He answers in the way they wanted or desired. In their struggling well with God they discover new intimacies about His heart for them. They find that God is enough in every situation.
I can’t count the times when I was waiting on the Lord to answer a prayer and then at some point I get it in my head that He needs help. I jump in and “help out” aka take control. I’ve got this mindset that surely I missed what He was saying or where He was leading so I’m going to steer this prayer request in the right direction and get the answer I’m looking for, pronto. So, more times than I can count I have returned to the Lord in repentance with more baggage attached to my original request. Good news though, God’s unfazed with my antics. In the past, He’s spoken into my spirit something along the lines of, sweet child I could have saved you all of that if you’d just been patient.
I say that to say this, we can get out there and make things happen. There are other options to waiting on Christ. Lainie has other options. One of those options being that she could stay focused on her struggle and pain becoming bitter but she has set it in her heart and has chosen to submit herself to God’s timing and His wisdom.
To some it may look like God has forgotten Lainie or is withholding this good thing, even Laine has asked God that question. But Lainie has pressed deeply into the heart of God to discover the beauty of intimacy with Christ. In doing so, Christ has revealed His sufficiency in singleness.
So you might be thinking, what is the importance of waiting on God? For Christians, it’s in the waiting that our faith is exercised. It’s where we discover new levels of relationship with God, where He reveals hidden things, gives us access to new dimensions of His heart. It’s where we explore and discover things we didn’t even imagine to know or ask. After all, an immediate gratification God does not require faith and certainly no relationship. There is beauty to be found in the midst of the pain and waiting.
Lainie is warm, friendly and easy to. She talks about the various revelations that God shared with her and I loved that she had a strong understanding of the importance of both married couples and the singles with regard to the body of Christ. She has, what I would call, an intuitive understanding and even shares what she discerns with her pastor (who is very open to her input) from a singles perspective. She shares how to blend the two (married and single) in various ways for a mutually beneficial experience that edifies the whole body of Christ.
Listen in to hear all that God revealed and how Lainie has applied it to her life so that hope deferred doesn’t become the sole pursuit of her life.
Live Loved and Thrive!
Connect with Lainie:
https://steelmagnoliaspodcast.com/
https://www.accessmore.com/pd/Have-Love-Will-Travel-
Resources Mentioned:
Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage
Sam Alberry, The 7 Myths about Singleness
Bio:
Lainie Stubblefield has helped others receive healing in their bodies as a massage therapist for over 20 years. As a follower of Jesus, she also has a heart for seeing others receive the freedom that is available in our hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. She is the co-host of the Steel Magnolias podcast discussing various aspects of Southern Culture as well as a new travel podcast coming out soon called Have Love, Will Travel on the Access More Network.
Transcript:
https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/b9efa3a7cff54eb09f74e358bf0dbe94/edit_v2
