Tears that Water the Outcome

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Can you relate to this ancient proverb?

I surely can.?

Hope is intrinsic to the nature of being human. It’s built into the DNA. All I have to do is look at the consistency of overcoming adversity in the face of horrific circumstances throughout human history to see this is true.

And yet when there is a significant delay to that which I’m hoping to see come to fruition, the ache of the waiting enters the heart. So what do you do?

I don’t know about you, but I have been in that place where I’m curled up on the bed, so sick of the current state of affairs that would be my life, that all I can do is cry from the heartache.

If you can’t relate to this, I don’t count you fortunate. That sounds odd, doesn’t it? But it’s because of the second half of the proverb I can confidently say that.

If your life has never experienced adversity with a need to push through, then you haven’t grown and aren’t growing. Playing it safe on the shore of “No Change Beach” doesn’t get you to the new places and heights you can experience in life.

In 2015, right at the beginning of that year, I was terminated from my position. Days later I was setting up a place on my own because a long-term relationship had ended. To top off the month of January, the cultural expression of my family’s faith community wasn’t matching mine.

In the span of a week, I lost my cultural career work environment, my home environment, and my spiritual environment lacked community from my natural family; the ones I wanted to bond with the most.

To put it bluntly, it was a season of undoing.

My identity in work was gone. My identity in that former relationship was gone. My ability to bond with my nuclear family was difficult. Very few people in my life could understand where I found myself.

My outlook looked bleak and sure enough, I went through a process of grieving these losses. I hoped for better because better and hope were what gave me the courage to move forward through those losses.

I knew the job loss was coming because the toxicity of the work environment was so high and I was ok with leaving to get to something better. I knew the need to leave that former relationship was necessary to be available for God’s best for me. And I knew the spiritual journey I had started was already producing amazing fruit, a.k.a. real positive results, that I trusted my progress without having people in my family understand my choices. In the midst of this, I lost financial income, so I had to journey through that uncertainty.?

The year 2015 involved so many trials of new things for my life personally, professionally, and spiritually that I can confidently tell you I went through some heartache.

The waiting period until I saw my next career gig was 10 months.?

Hope was deferred.

I had to wait.

I couldn’t rush the process.

I had to let go of the things from the past that were not part of my destiny and future.

The catalyst change of that year set me on the trajectory for which I find myself today, so I’m immensely grateful for it.

The hope for the better did become real and has been a “tree of life” for me.

Here’s the gold I want to impart to you:

Had I not gone through that year, there is NO WAY I would have survived this first quarter of 2023. That story, my dear reader, is for another day.

But I’m telling you that without the foundational roots of deferred hope in 2015 that came to fruition, I could not have sustained the recent trials.

A tree's roots are nearly as wide as the branches you see above the ground. That doesn't happen overnight and it doesn't happen without some water...

I know trials can feel crushing. But you must persist and push through. Allow your tears of heartache from deferred hope to water the ground that brings forth the tree of life.

I’ll end with a quote from another article I wrote on this topic:

“Hope always exists. Hope is a Person. Hope Lives!”?

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Michelle Rademacher is an Executive Coach and Mentor focused on providing insights into the real-world challenges we all face daily. Please follow her on this platform and subscribe to this monthly newsletter to receive wisdom, inspiration, impartation, and practical tips to see success come forth in your life.