By: Wendy Morris
“And you are complete in Him.” — Colossians 2:10
For a long time, I viewed the last twelve years as a waiting season.
Twelve years since my divorce. Twelve years of healing, rebuilding, surrendering, and learning how to trust God again. Twelve years of hoping that perhaps the next chapter would bring the husband, best friend, and partner I still desire.
But lately, something has shifted in me.
I realized that I no longer feel as though my life is waiting to begin. I don’t feel incomplete because I’m single. I’m not searching for someone to rescue me, fill an empty space, or give me the peace I’ve been longing for.
My life feels complete—regardless of whether my circumstances change.
And it took twelve years to get here.
The Biblical Significance of Twelve
Throughout Scripture, the number twelve often represents divine order, authority, and completeness in God’s purposes.
There were twelve tribes of Israel and twelve disciples of Jesus. After Jesus fed the multitude, twelve baskets of food remained. Revelation describes the New Jerusalem with twelve gates and twelve foundations.
There was also a woman in Scripture who had suffered for twelve years before she reached out and touched the garment of Jesus. In the same passage, Jesus raised Jairus’s twelve-year-old daughter back to life.
Twelve years of suffering.
Twelve years of waiting.
And then came healing, restoration, and new life.
When I began thinking about the significance of twelve, I couldn’t ignore how deeply it spoke to my own story. I don’t believe numbers should be treated as promises or predictions, but I do believe God can use details to remind us of His faithfulness.
Maybe these twelve years were never wasted years.
Maybe they were years of divine order—years when God was putting the broken pieces of my life back into their proper places.
I Wasn’t Just Waiting—I Was Becoming
I used to believe I was waiting for the person who would make my life feel complete. But looking back, I can see that God was doing something much deeper.
He was teaching me who I am without another person defining me.
He was healing wounds I once thought would always control me. He was teaching me boundaries, discernment, forgiveness, and self-respect. He was showing me that forgiveness does not require allowing someone to return and hurt me again.
He taught me how to sit with myself and still have peace. He showed me that loneliness does not have to convince me to settle. He taught me that I can deeply desire companionship without allowing that desire to become an idol.
These years strengthened my faith. They taught me to pray, journal, surrender, and depend on God in ways I may never have learned if everything had happened according to my timeline.
I thought I was waiting for God to change my circumstances.
All along, God was changing me.
Complete Does Not Mean Finished
Feeling complete does not mean my story is finished. It does not mean I no longer desire marriage or that I have stopped believing God could bring someone into my life.
I still desire a husband who loves God first—a best friend, partner, protector, and companion with whom I can share this life. I still believe there is something beautiful about two people walking together with God at the center.
But that person will not be responsible for making me whole.
He will not be asked to heal wounds that I have refused to surrender to God. He will not be expected to become the source of my identity, worth, or peace.
If God brings someone into my life, he will not complete an incomplete woman. He will add to a life that is already full, peaceful, and rooted in Christ.
That realization changes everything.
I can desire love without chasing it. I can hope without forcing anything. I can wait without believing my life is passing me by.
I am not waiting to become whole anymore.
Perhaps This Was a Completion Season
Maybe these twelve years were not simply a waiting season.
Maybe they were a completion season.
Not the completion of my entire story, but the completion of something within me. The end of living from old wounds. The end of believing that another person holds the missing piece of my life. The end of looking outside myself for something only God could give me.
God has taken the woman who once lived in survival mode and taught her how to live in peace. He has taken what was broken and created something stronger, wiser, and more discerning.
It took twelve years, but I can finally say this with confidence:
My life is complete because my completeness comes from Christ.
I am still growing. I am still becoming. I still have desires and prayers that have not been answered in the way I once imagined. But my joy is no longer postponed until those answers arrive.
These twelve years were not empty.
They were holy.
They were necessary.
And perhaps they were God’s way of bringing order, healing, and completeness to a part of my story that once felt completely shattered.
I don’t know exactly what God will do next, but I no longer need the next chapter to prove that this one has been meaningful.
I am whole.
And now, with an open heart and open hands, I’m simply watching to see what God writes next.
Reflection Questions
- Have you been postponing your joy while waiting for something in your life to change?
- Are you asking another person or circumstance to provide something only God can give you?
- What has God developed within you during your waiting season?
- What if the season you called “waiting” was actually a season of healing and becoming?
- Can you recognize the ways your life is already full and complete in Christ?
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for every season You have used to heal, strengthen, and shape me. Forgive me for the times I believed my life could not be complete until my circumstances changed. Help me find my identity, peace, and wholeness in You alone. Thank You for never wasting a single year of my story. Give me the faith to appreciate where I am while trusting You with whatever comes next. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
—Wendy
Grow in Grace 