Yesterday I went to my fifth appointment for my new obturator.

My first appointment was last summer.

For those who don’t know, an obturator is an artificial device that serves as a removable palate. Think of a retainer that acts as your palate.

I’ve had one since 2017 when I had surgery to remove much of my palate to get the cancerous tumor out.

What this journey to get a new obturator has grown in me is patience, delayed gratification, and trust in God’s timing.

In a world where we can get things delivered to our door in an hour, the very thing I need to speak articulately, eat, and drink takes months to build.

The need isn’t there.

The technology isn’t where it could be if there was more demand.

And so we wait.

Waiting isn’t easy, yet it’s taught me to look beyond the surface of my desires to the truth to see that I will have my new obturator when it’s time.

I could grow impatient, bitter, resentful, angry…but how does that serve my heart and mind, or benefit my relationships with the people beside me?

Instead, I choose to see people doing their best with what they have. Trusting the process over my desires. Trusting God’s timing over my own.

I share this with you today as a reminder that some things in life take time. They aren’t quick, easy, and always available.

I invite you to join me to…

pause. breathe. pray.

May we not allow waiting to cause us to grow impatient or into someone we don’t want to be. Instead, may we seek to look beyond our desires of what we want to the core of what God is growing in us in the wait. May we remember that we live in a world that says “now,” when sometimes God’s answer to our prayer to “wait and trust me.” When we look through this lens rather than our own, may it bring us a wider perspective and a deeper peace as we wait.

With love and hope,
Shawn

He has made everything beautiful in its time - Ecclesiastes 3:11