Before summer started, F came home with a long face one day after her swim practice. Later I found out that she did not get promoted to the gold girls' swim team while her best friend got moved up. She said, "I am very upset that I don't get to be in the same group as mimi. What if she makes other friends and forgets about me?"
While F is very relational motivated, my husband is very goal oriented. He thought F was good enough to move up and would not mind talking to the coach about it. But before heading to the coach, we talked to God in prayer about this.
"Why wait, Lord?" I asked. Through prayer, I grew more and more confident that God thought holding her back was necessary. At the end, we decided to submit to God's timing and not interfere with the coach's decision.
Summer came. Then, we found out that F made the junior company dance performance group. Had F gotten moved up to gold girls', that required 4 hours of practice daily during summer, she would not be able to commit to this junior company at all. God's timing was perfect!
In order for F to refine her strokes, my husband asked her (new) coach for one-on-one coaching time during the summer. Little did we know that coach Alex had been observing her, thought she had potentials and knew exactly what her weaknesses were. Perhaps it was the eagerness to be reunited with her best friend, perhaps it was coach Alex who knew how to motivate her, perhaps she was better rested during summer, F's improvement was tremendous. Coach Alex's words of affirmation gave her confidence. She listened well, worked hard and tried to apply what she'd learned daily. She became the star swimmer in her team.
Toward the end of the summer, coach Alex had a talk with me and said that not only was F ready to move up to gold, but she would also be "in the middle and above" (in English, that means she would not have to play catch up and could be better than the average gold girls). Another good news is that coach Alex who has now knows F so well, will also be "promoted" to be the new gold girls' coach in fall. God's plan was good!
That night, F got on the phone to tell her best friend the good news. As the girls giggled and squealed over the phone, my heart was full of thankfulness. Had we gone ahead of God and talked to the coach, F would have missed the opportunities God had planned for her to grow. We would have, too, missed a God sighting.
I do not enjoy waiting. Waiting to be old enough to go to kindergarten, waiting for the summer to come so we could go on that camping trip, waiting to be 16 to start driving, waiting for the admission letter from college, waiting for the day to graduate from college, waiting for that someone to come along to start a meaningful relationship, waiting for the baby to be born after 9 months of pregnancy...and in this case, waiting to be approved that F was good enough. But, waiting is a discipline in trusting in God. Who had waited? Abraham and Sarah waited for their 1st born to be given by God. Joseph waited for God's purpose in the faraway Egypt. David waited for God's timing to become the king of Israel. God always knows best and He wants His children to have faith in His goodness and promises. When He wants us to wait, through our act of obedience, we will surely see the fruits.
