“I wait for the Lord to help me, and I trust His word.” -Psalm 130
“The Lord wants to show His mercy to you. He wants to rise and comfort you. The Lord is a fair God, and everyone who waits for His help will be happy.” -Isaiah 30:18
“I will look to the Lord for help. I’ll wait for God to save me; my God will hear me.” -Micah 7:7
“So do not lose the courage you had in the past, which has a great reward. You must hold on, so you can do what God wants and receive what He has promised.” -Hebrews 10:35-36
There’s a saying that says “The only constant is change.” Well, in my book, it goes more like “The only constant is waiting for change to happen.”
If there’s anything I’ve found is a constant in my walk with the Lord, it’s that most often He requires me to wait. He made me wait until I was 30 to get married. And now I sit here playing the waiting game all over again as we wait for His perfect plan to grow our family 4 years into marriage (though this new season of waiting has felt like an eternity).
But it’s not just me, it’s everyone I look around and see. We all seem to have something in our lives that is a desire of our heart, something we wish we could have yesterday, yet here we are, playing the waiting game.
I think about a single girl friend of mine who texts me all the time to give her encouragement while she longs so much to meet her husband and is tired of waiting for him. And most days she wants to settle, or give in to the ways of the world, because it’s just so hard to take a stance and go against the norm to say, “Nope, I’m waiting on God’s best.”
I think about my cousin who is the mom to two autistic toddlers. She never imagined she would be that mom who hears the “a” word about not one but two of her children, yet here God has chosen her to fight this battle not only for her own children, but for others who are so desperately in need of further research for a cure.
I think about my mom, who is already a survivor of breast cancer, but just a few years later lost her husband and life partner to lung cancer. And now she sits and waits wondering if another love will ever be a part of her story again in her later years.
And all my sisters in Christ I have met along this journey of infertility struggles. Each month we all wait. We wait with hope and faith, though most days we feel like we lack both as the waiting season gets longer and longer. We learn to expect in faith good news before we are actually physically expecting, only to be reminded, their is still more waiting to do as God tells us another “not yet.” We often give in to the impatience with tears of discouragement as it feels most days this wait will never end. Can I just say I totally understand why Sarah laughed when God finally told her in a year that she would have a son? All she ever knew as her reality for 90 years was how to wait, so I don’t blame her one bit for her “yeah right” laugh when told the news it was now finally her turn to become a mother.
So how do we get through the waiting?
I’m not sure I’ll ever have the perfect answer… as patience is not my strong suite. But as I push forward, my answer is simply to be teachable as I wait. As much I wish I could fast forward to that part of the story where the stork drops a baby in my arms, I’m striving to be open to the lessons God is teaching me through my waiting season. Because it’s these seasons that are uncomfortable when God stretches our faith and teaches us to rely completely and solely on His ways over our own. God can do more with your waiting on Him than He could ever do when you are in control of your own doing. I have come to peace with knowing there are simply some things He wouldn’t have been able to teach me had I become a mom right away. Through this season I’m learning more things to teach my future child so that as they grow up to mature in their faith asking all the deep questions about Who God is and His goodness, my answers will have more experience and conviction to confidently say, I have been through the fire and despite how hard life can be, I learned YES, HE IS ALWAYS GOOD!
God shows Himself the greatest through the trials. It was by throwing Daniel in the lion’s den that God showed His mighty power to calm the fiercest of animals. It was by throwing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in a fiery furnace that gave the entrance to the Holy Spirit literally appearing and keeping them from having one burn scar on their bodies. It was by facing the giant Goliath with nothing but a slingshot and a stone, that God proved victorious through an ordinary man named David. It was by Joseph being betrayed by his family and serving in prison that God used that season to prepare him for royalty.
Trials are how He still makes His presence known in this current day and age. And there is no trial without waiting.
God refines us in the waiting.
God teaches us in the waiting.
God changes our hearts in the waiting.
God brings new friendships in the waiting.
God draws us closer to His heart in the waiting.
God helps us learn more compassion and kindness for others also in the waiting.
We must to cling to that, knowing God says He is good to those who wait, because it is the waiting that is actually good for us and molds us to be more in His image. (Lamentations 3:25)
For those of you who are waiting for God to move in big ways, I want to pray for you today. Will you leave me a comment below and let me know:
1) What are you are waiting on?
2) One character trait you to hope to learn better through your wait?
And in the meantime, a friend recently sent me this song, and it was so beautiful I just had to share it with you today. I encourage you to turn off all distractions and have a moment of worship where you are right now and close your eyes and listen to this song soaking in this truth.
What a beautiful song – I hadn’t heard it before! I love everything you wrote in this post and can relate to so much of it. Waiting is definitely something I always have to surrender to God, because even though I like to think I’m a patient person…that most certainly isn’t true. No matter what the outcome of the waiting is, I just have to remember that God is sovereign and He is still working all things for my good. Thanks for this post!
xo
Yes… great line there… “God is sovereign and He is still working all things things for my good!” 🙂
The season of waiting differs from hesitation, procrastination, or paralysis. This has proven a powerful revelation to me. I assumed that if you’re not building something, buying something, planning something, renovating something, and on and on, then you must be stagnant, failing, or boring. I think we’ve bought into that myth. I sure did.
But, what if you are just waiting?
What if you are being given a “Must Do” list by the Lord rather than giving yourself a daily “To Do” list of things that distract you from seeking Him? What if that “Must Do” list is all about waiting, as waiting itself is a form of obedience and worship?
I’m in this season of waiting right now. I think He’s showing me that it can’t always be about my agenda and my goals. This time is allowing me to reflect on all of the many things I did without seeking His blessing. And, how all of those things were undone.
Thank you, Scarlett, for sharing this thought-provoking and beautiful post, as well as the lovely song.
Hi Julie! Great to hear from you about this post! Loved the points you made… yeah I think a lot of times we confuse “waiting” with “Busyness to distract us” when really, sometimes He simply calls us to “Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10. Like right now, with pursuing our family options, we are simply on pause, and a lot of people don’t understand why we aren’t actively still pursuing… but sometimes we just need to hit the pause button on whatever it is we are all waiting on and give room for God to be God, instead of us always trying to control everything. And how much more relaxing it is when we reach that place of surrendering control!