*Photo: Getty/Tim Robberts / Illustration: EEW Magazine Online*

Editor’s Note: This devotion was written by Dianna Hobbs and used by permission from her ‘Your Daily Cup of Inspiration’ blog. To read more encouragement like this, visit YourDailyCupOfInspiration.com

I am here to speak words of hope and prophesy that it will happen for you. I know it might not seem that way now as you’re going through the twists and turns of life. Trust me, I get it.

Growing up the daughter of a pastor and traveling evangelist, my siblings and I spent many hours road tripping in a 15-passenger van. We traveled hundreds of miles from Buffalo, NY, to various southern states to attend revivals.

I most remember riding to North Carolina through the mountainous region of West Virginia. Whenever going through the mountains, our ears would plug up, making it difficult to hear. Then at night, some of the narrow roads were so dark that the high beams weren’t strong enough to cut through that thick darkness.

I think life can sometimes feel like traveling down a long, dark, narrow, winding road, sandwiched between intimidatingly tall mountains. In hard times, you feel boxed in, unable to see your way forward, and downright exhausted from the lengthy journey.

When you’re surrounded by mountains and obstacles, your spiritual ears also get plugged, and it becomes harder to hear God’s voice clearly. Your weary soul cries out, Oh Lord, are we there yet? How long must I remain on this uncertain road? Can you hear me? How much more time will pass before You deliver me? Am I trusting You for nothing?

It’s normal to feel weary while waiting, friend.

It also isn’t strange that God, who is indeed close to you, feels far away in unstable and uncertain times. Despite that, remind yourself that according to Daniel 2:21, even when circumstances appear to be spinning out of control, He still controls the times and seasons. Doing this will help you regain and maintain your peace amid chaos and confusion.

Granted, confessing the word of God and remaining optimistic during trying periods can be hard. If it wasn’t, we would not read biblical passages like Habakkuk 1:2: “How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?”

Habakkuk the Prophet spoke these words during a frustrated period of his life. He was delivering divine messages to Judah during the final days of the Assyrian Empire and at the beginning of the Babylonian invasion. But God felt absent. The Lord’s promises seemed hollow. What the Almighty spoke didn’t seem likely to happen.

The Jews were suffering mercilessly at the hands of their enemies, and there appeared to be no end to the horror, hardship, and havoc. Habakkuk, growing more impatient and discouraged by the day, complained. He was so fed up with being in limbo, he accused God of failing to listen.

Of course, we know this isn’t true; 1 Peter 3:12 tells us that God is always attentive to the prayers of the righteous, right? Even so, Habakkuk, was experiencing restlessness during the waiting period, as we all do sometimes.

I know I have—and do.

“Discouragement comes knocking on everyone’s door. Answer with faith. Declare that every promise God has spoken, He will perform it!”

— Dianna Hobbs

In 2018, just a year before a medical emergency nearly killed me and caused damage to my brain, I had been traveling internationally, ministering the word of God, and thriving in ministry. Souls were being converted to faith in Christ around the world. I was actively promoting my book, God Did It, sharing my testimony of miraculous healing. I had looked death in the face, so to speak, and won. I was firing on all cylinders. I had survived the worst and had entered my best, most productive, fulfilling season yet.

Life was good…until it wasn’t.

When I got hit with that devastating blow in 2019, I returned home from the hospital a shell of my former self. My team had to cancel my entire calendar. I was sidelined and thrust right back into a season of struggle. I was thinking, not again, God. This can’t be happening again!

All of a sudden, it felt like I had been placed on the “Injured Reserve” list. In the National Football League (NFL), athletes are placed on injured reserve after sustaining a football injury that makes them ineligible to play on the team. Depending on the severity of the injury, a player can be out for an entire season or more.

I always hate to see my favorite and most impactful players on this list because there is no predicting when they will return to the field. Some never do.

Almost four years ago, I found myself on injured reserve with no clue about when I’d be able to get back on the field and resume active ministry. Though God promised that my season of reactivation was coming, weeks, months, and years passed. More times than I can count, discouragement showed up and whispered, it's never going to happen for you.

Has Satan ever told you that lie? Did it feel persuasive? I’m sure he has and I’m sure it did. But I believe that God sent me today for someone restless and frustrated with the wait. He told me to share the words that He spoke in Habakkuk 2:3 NLT: “If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.”

It must happen because God said it. However long it takes, know that God’s word does not expire. Declare over yourself, “It will happen for me.” Come on and say it like you mean it: “It will happen for me.”

It surely will! Your situation will turn around. You will see progress. You will step into your destiny. You will rise from the ashes as an example of God’s unfailing word. Your restoration and reactivation season is just around the corner.

Listen, when you get frustrated with the wait, remember Psalm 27:14 KJV which is the sweetener I’m stirring into your cup of inspiration. It says, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”

As you drink down the contents of your cup, remember this: your breakthrough may be slow manifesting, but be patient. It will happen for you. Your set time for breakthrough will come. What God has for you will be revealed and released, but not a moment sooner or later than it’s supposed to. In the meantime, settle in, encourage yourself, don’t waver, hold fast to the promises of God, and watch Him perform His word.

Now, let’s pray.

God, You said in Jeremiah 1:12 that You watch over Your word to perform it. Since Your track record is good and I know You cannot lie, I trust You despite how long it’s been or how bad it looks. When frustration and discouragement surface, please remind me that what You said will surely take place. I declare by faith right now that it will happen for me. I believe it. I receive it. It is so. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Dianna Hobbs is founder of EEW Magazine Online and CEO of Empowering Everyday Women Ministries — a 501c3 nonprofit organization that shares the gospel and provides humanitarian aid to the hurting. She is also the writer of Your Daily Cup of Inspiration and executive producer of the companion podcast. Follow Dianna on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. Sign up for her free ministry newsletter here.