On Jealousy

Women in waiting are prone to fall into the sin of jealousy. Inevitably, we will encounter other women who are living the lives we want sooner than we are.

It’s happened to me for many years. I’m the one going to the baby shower without the baby. I'm the one going to a family event where my younger cousins have children and I don't. I’m the one someone is bragging to about their lovely little family while I still don’t have the family I’m yearning for. I’m the one taking a step back in my career while others are getting further and higher than I am at younger ages. I’m the one still struggling with chronic health issues without the healing I’ve prayed so long for while others are leading full healthy lives. Prior to getting married, it was going to weddings and bridal showers without the marriage I desired.

Opportunities for jealousy are all around us. All the while, God is making me wait for mysterious reasons unknown to me. That is probably true for you too. 

What can help when faced with jealousy is to look at your own blessings in the here and now and a healthy dose of acceptance. I know I am blessed in unique ways that another isn’t. God has blessed me with something now that the other doesn’t have now. I know that God has a good plan for my life that is perfectly coming to fruition. I know I am doing the will of God in this moment based on what He has asked of me.

Nick, my husband, is a perfect example of God’s best for me. Sure, we have our trials and differences, but I look at our relationship and how he is the best friend I could have ever asked for. We complement each other uniquely and beautifully. I don’t know why God waited so long to bring us together, but He did and the result was worth the wait. I had no reason to be jealous before because God had a perfect person in mind for me. Fewer years of life with the right person is better than many years with the wrong one!

I have a feeling that will be how the rest of my life will play out. Whatever comes, whenever it comes, will be worth the wait. I don’t have to be jealous because God’s best is waiting for me and whatever He has in mind will be perfectly suited to me.