Good morning, my brothers! What if the thing you've almost given up on isn't delayed because God forgot you, but because He's still preparing you? One lesson from a seven-year journey changed how I see God's timing forever. Let’s go! A 5-minute, 53-second read
Scroll to the bottom for some help I’ll be asking for in the coming weeks.
Listen to the audio version here:
The Book I Couldn't Finish
In 2018, I felt God nudging me to write a book.
I didn't know exactly what it would look like, but I knew there was a message stirring in my heart. A message born from success and failure, mountaintops and valleys, victories and defeats. Lessons God had taught me through the refining fire of life. A message I felt compelled to share with other men.
So I started writing. And stopped. Then I started again. And stopped again.
Over the years, I probably started more than twenty versions of that book. Every time, I was convinced, "This is the version." Every time I believed I was finally going to finish it.
Yet, the years rolled on. The book didn't.
Maybe you can relate. Maybe the Lord has given you a vision that hasn’t come to fruition yet. Don’t despair, my brother.
God might be working in you before He works through you.
My book process? Looking back, I realize God was teaching me three lessons that had very little to do with writing and everything to do with knowing Him more intimately.
Lesson One: God's Timing Is Better Than Mine
One of the hardest truths for us as men is that God rarely works according to our schedule.
When God promised Abraham that he would become the father of a great nation, Abraham was seventy-five years old. The promised son didn't arrive until he was one hundred.
Twenty-five years between the promise and the fulfillment.
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.
God never forgot the promise. He simply worked on His timetable, not Abraham's.
The same was true for Joseph. God gave him a vision, then allowed years of betrayal, slavery, and prison before he stepped into it.
Let’s not forget David. God anointed him king, but years passed before he sat on the throne.
The same was true for me and this book. He knew I still hadn’t surrendered fully. He knew I still needed work. And it took time. What felt like discouraging delay was actually growth and preparation.
How about you?
How many of us have quietly given up on something God placed on our hearts because it didn't happen fast enough?
A dream. A calling. A ministry. A restored marriage. A deeper walk with Christ. Victory over a sin you've battled for years.
We live in a culture that expects instant results. But God often works through long seasons of preparation. Why?
Because He isn't merely interested in accomplishing a task. He is interested in shaping a man.
The question isn't, "Why hasn't God done it yet?"
The better question is, "Who is God making me while I wait?"
Embrace the silence or delay. It might be “preparation season.”
Lesson Two: God Provides the Way
For years, I tried to figure out how to write a book. Nothing worked.
At least not for long.
Then God provided a path I never would have chosen: In 2024, He led me to start the More The Man newsletter. At the time, it looked like another distraction from writing the book.
It turns out it was His way of writing the book.
Week after week, article after article, God kept bringing biblical truths to mind. Lessons from Scripture, from suffering and failure. Lessons from His faithfulness.
Then one day, He made it clear. The book I'd been trying to write for years was quietly being written one article at a time.
How often do we do the same thing?
We spend countless hours trying to “make it happen.” We worry. We strategize. We force doors open. We lose sleep trying to solve problems God never asked us to solve.
Meanwhile, God is preparing a path we never would have imagined.
Isaiah reminds us:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.
The answer isn't always to work harder. Sometimes it's better to wait longer. At times, it's about trusting more deeply. Every so often, it's simply about stopping the striving and letting God be God.
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
God has a way.
Our job is not to create it. Our job is to trust Him until He reveals it. And then join Him in what He is doing.
Lesson Three: God Provides the Power
I now understand this truth: The book wasn't waiting to be written. It was waiting to be written His way.
For years, I treated the book like a project to conquer. I kept banging my head against the wall. Nothing worked.
Not because the vision wasn't from God. But because I was trying to accomplish God's assignment in my own strength.
Then came the newsletter.
Every week, I would sit down with my Bible, a cup of coffee, and a blank screen.
I would pray. I would study. I would listen. The Holy Spirit would speak. And I would type.
One article became two. Two became ten. Ten became 50. You get the picture. Before I knew it, the manuscript I had struggled to create for years existed.
Not because I suddenly became a better writer. But because God had shown me His method.
The lesson wasn't that I needed to work harder. The lesson was that God never intended me to carry the assignment alone.
Jesus said:
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
How many of us are exhausted because we're trying to accomplish in our own strength what God intends to accomplish through His?
How many of us are striving when we should be abiding?
Pushing when we should be praying?
Grinding when we should be depending?
The God who gives the vision also provides the way. And the God who provides the way also provides the power.
“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty.
My role wasn't to be the author. My role was to be the pen. He was the Writer.
And maybe that's what some of us need to remember today.
The question isn't whether you're capable. The question is whether you're surrendered and available.
What About You?
Maybe your “book” isn't a book.
Maybe it's the thing God has been quietly placing before you for years.
Brother, what if the thing you're waiting for isn't waiting on God? What if God is waiting on you?
Not to figure everything out. Not to have all the answers. Not to feel qualified.
Just to surrender.
Trust. Wait. Depend. Move.
My prayer is that you know:
The same God who fulfilled His promise to Abraham…
The same God who raised Joseph from prison…
The same God who brought David from the cave to the throne…
The same God who took twenty unfinished versions of a book and turned them into something I could never have accomplished on my own…
That same God is at work in your life today.
Trust His timing.
Wait for His direction.
Depend on His power.
Then move - take the next step He puts in front of you.
You may discover that what looked like delay was preparation. What felt like a detour was actually the road. And what seemed impossible was simply waiting for God to do what only He can do.
Reflection and Action
What promise, dream, or calling have you become impatient with because God's timing doesn't match yours?
Where might God be providing a path that looks different than the one you expected?
Where are you relying on your own strength instead of depending on God's power?
What is one next step God may be asking you to take this week?
What would change in your life if you fully trusted His timing, His way, and His power?
-WIll
As for the actual publication of the book, we’re looking at early September, Lord willing. I'll soon be inviting 300 Wingmen to join my Book Launch Team and help spread the message to men who are tired of lukewarm Christianity and hungry for more of Jesus. Keep an eye out for future announcements. Thanks for prayerfully considering joining the Team!
