The years you keep calling wasted may be the very years that prepared you for everything that’s still ahead.

“I feel like I wasted years of my life.”

God: You didn’t.

The years you’re calling wasted were the years you were being formed.

– Jacqueline Whitney

Tknow it looks like waste from where you’re standing. The years you spent in the wrong relationship. The time you gave to something that didn’t work out. The season you spent lost, or healing, or just trying to survive. The version of your life you look back on and wish you’d done differently.

But I was in every single one of those years.

I was in the relationship that didn’t work out, teaching you what you’d never again accept. I was in the season you felt lost, quietly orienting you toward who you were meant to become. I was in the years that felt like nothing was happening, building in you what couldn’t be built any faster.

The years you’re calling wasted were the years you were being formed.

You couldn’t have skipped them. The wisdom you carry came from those years. The strength you have came from those years. The clarity about what you want and what you’ll never settle for again came from those years.

Nothing was wasted. It was all being used. Even the parts that hurt. Even the parts you regret. Even the parts you’d do differently now.

You’re not behind because of those years. You’re here because of them.

Jacqueline Whitney is the author Held: A 50 Day Devotional For Parents and All That You Deserve.