I had been praying for someone for so long now that I couldn’t even count the number of times I had done so. I had included them in my morning and evening prayer. I had sighed prayers for them while I cleaned houses, while I did laundry, and while I took care of other things. I had literally dropped my work many times to go and cry out my heart to God on my knees. And although when I looked closely I could see God working, his time frame was clearly not the same as mine and my heart wished it was.

Surely it was his will just as much as mine. Surely He wanted them to draw nigh just as much as I did. Many times He would bring me just a little something to let me know that He was working on it—that He hadn’t forgotten. And many times He would remind me that ultimately it was their choice. Every time it brought me peace and hope as I laid it at his feet.

But one day as I struggled with it yet again, my heart wanted to run ahead of God’s for the umpteenth time. Surely I could help the situation. If I would just text, call, or message. Maybe if I would just try again. Maybe I could help. Yet just as soon as I, feeling desperate, picked up the phone to do just that, his soft gentle voice came to me. “When the time is right, I the Lord will make it happen.”

It was spoken so clearly and at precisely the right moment, and although I had been on this walk with God for many years now, it still never ceased to amaze me. The way He came in right when I needed it; when He had so many other things to take care of. 

I had been making a scrapbook daily calendar for a Christmas gift and had picked out a sticker a week or two prior, which had exactly that phrase. When I went to use it, the part of my heart that doesn’t always do so well with trusting, wondered if I should discard it.

I thought maybe this was a different translation—one that had been changed to suit a little better—and maybe God didn’t mean it exactly like it said. Would I be giving false promises if I used it? 

That morning when the verse came back to me just when I needed to hear it, I looked it up on my phone to see where it was found. The NLT version of the Bible says: “The smallest family will become a thousand people, and the tiniest group will become a mighty nation. At the right time, I, the Lord, will make it happen.”

And although the wording at the last part is the same as the phrase I heard God tell me, I think I like the beginning of the KJV better. It says: “A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.”

What a precious promise this is, given to us by our Father. When HIS time is right—not mine—He will make it happen. A little one shall become a thousand. A little prayer, dashed Heaven-ward to our dear Father, will become a thousand prayers. Like the kaleidoscope that takes many broken pieces and forms a beautiful picture, that’s how God uses our prayers. He takes our brokenness, those many tears we’ve cried as we’ve prayed, and makes it happen in his time. 

Will I trust Him? I’m slowly learning that trust, in essence, means surrender. Although there are times when God wants me to say that fitly spoken word, if I am trying too hard on my own, I am not surrendering my will to Him. It is so easy to think I am a bigger part of the situation than I am. I can pray about a situation, then rise from my knees, and think of how I can fix it. But I am just a little one, and it is God who is the bigger part. He’s the One who takes the “little ones” and makes them become a thousand. 

When I can take my thoughts, my ideas, my wishes—even though they might all be good—and leave my “little ones” at Jesus’ feet, not once but many times over, He will take it all and make it much bigger than I could ever have imagined. But some things take time and I must be willing to wait. 

The NIV version says: “I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly.” To us, it may look like it’s taking days, weeks, months, and years. And sometimes in my deepest prayer and longing, I’ll tell God, “I know you can do this tonight, so why don’t you?” But this verse says in his time He will do it swiftly. His time. Not mine.

It seems far too often I have my own time frame for things. Before Christmas. Before my birthday. Before this wedding. And when it doesn’t happen in my time, I can become a bit disgruntled with the Almighty and lose hope. My mind wants to say, “See? He doesn’t care about the desires of my heart.” And my trust wavers in the One who truly does all things well.

But He’s preparing the heart. He’s preparing the soul. He’s preparing the way. And then—yes, He will come in and do it quickly. He says He will. Then who am I to lose heart when it’s not happening on my time? Oh to trust Him fully. To lay down my will and surrender my longing to Him. His way will be perfect. His promise will be kept. His time will be right.