“I wish I hadn’t wasted three whole years chasing a life abroad. If I had just taken this job sooner, I’d be settled and at peace by now. Why didn’t God leads me to this earlier?”
These words weren’t said in anger but in a quiet heartbreak when you suddenly see how much time and energy was spent chasing what you thought was your calling but that never came to be.
He had grown up with a strong desire, almost a fixation, to settle abroad. For years, that dream defined his decisions, shaped his goals, and filtered every opportunity. Even when doors opened locally, he would find reasons to complain and walk away early. Or he’d choose roles that promised some distant hope of going abroad, though they never materialized into anything solid.
After a long stretch of job-hopping and then unemployment, he finally got the funds together and took the plunge believing his dream was finally within reach.
But then, life happened.
Things didn’t go as planned.
What looked like a shining promise turned into painful disillusionment.
Eventually, he returned disappointed, disoriented, and feeling defeated, with no job opportunities waiting for him here.
With his former dream shattered, he gave the new career oppurtunity that came his way his full heart and found joy, purpose, and unexpected blessings.
It wasn’t that God couldn't offer it earlier.
It’s that he wasn’t ready to receive it.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.”-- Isaiah 55:8
God’s plan was never hidden. But sometimes, our own dreams are louder than His whisper. Our hearts are too full of what we want, to make room for what He knows is best.
Sometimes we must be emptied before we can be filled.
Sometimes we have to lose our vision before we can see clearly.
“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”-- John 12:24
His time abroad wasn’t wasted. It was a necessary step to break the idol of a dream he clung to for years. It stripped away his resistance. It prepared his heart to finally say: “Yes, Lord. I trust Your way.”
God’s blessings were always waiting. But like the Israelites in the desert, he had to walk through a wilderness of his own making before entering the land God had prepared.
“And we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.”-- Romans 8:28
So if you’re in a season of regret, wondering why things didn’t happen earlier. Take a pause.
Ask: Was my heart even ready back then?
Could it be that what looks like a delay… was actually God’s mercy?
“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you.”-- 1 Peter 5:6
Sometimes the blessing isn’t new.
Sometimes we are.
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