I hurry. The world hurries, especially this time of the year. Do we want to wait on anything anymore? We instant message, sod grass, FedEx packages and can hardly wait for our computers to boot up.
I used to hate to wait. Waiting, though, is part of life; it’s Biblical. I read one statistic that the average person reluctantly waits more than three years of life before turning 70 years old. What are we doing during that time?
No matter what stage of life we are in, we are waiting on some dream, someone, some thing, or some day. It seems as if so much of my life has been waiting–on seasons to change; waiting on dreams; waiting on true, Godly love and marriage; gulp….even waiting for my wedding night before having sex (which certainly ain’t easy)!
For 12 years, it has been on my heart to write a book on waiting since I struggle with it so much. Perhaps by writing about it, we can discover together how to optimize it more and find true contentment.
Within the rough draft pages of my first book lie authentic stories on wading through my impatience; ideas on purity and other revelations; and hilarious, sometimes painful, mistakes I’ve made. Each chapter right now ends with “heavy wait” reflective questions, and “Light” wait answers of scripture as we seek and wait inwardly, outwardly, and upwardly. Let’s not rush the sunrise. Savor every moment. I know it will be worth the wait.
I need your help in crafting the book’s hottest content and its impact. Please forward this Post to as many friends as possible to comment on this blog post. By answering any or all of the following questions as a blog comment, I will give away two $25 Target Gift Cards this week to two random people who comment by Monday, December 16th. Your comments may also be included in the book when it gets published.
Reflect:
1) What are you waiting for?
2) How do you deal with waiting?
3) Why does waiting bother you?
4) What has been worth the wait?
5) How have you/your faith grown from waiting?
6) Do you tend to rush the sunrise?
7) Any other advice or thoughts about waiting?
Renew:
- “For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” –Habakkuk 2:3 (NIV 1984)
- “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” –Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)
Recharge:
- In the Advent season, how will you savor the moments more as we wait for Christmas?
Danya Jordan
I’m always waiting on something,but have learned over the years the best things are worth waiting for!!My marriage was worth waiting for. I kissed a lot of frogs before I met my dear husband. I wouldn’t trade him for the world but there are times he tests my nerves!!! I’m always looking at tomorrow before tomorrow comes. I need to plan on what I have to do, but recently realized some of my best plans never come to be!!! So When you find the answer on how to wait please share it with me!!
Onalee, thank you for your wise words. You and Randy have a beautiful, fun marriage. You are each other’s best friends. I certainly don’t have the answers on waiting. I’m just learning some valuable lessons along the journey. Love you!
How do you deal with waiting? Pray…..in all things! In the book Enjoying the Precedence of God by Jan Johnson, she talks about lots of ways and times to pray, but one of the most practical suggestions that I have tried to adopt is to pray at stop lights. It can be so aggravating to have the light turn yellow then red as I am approaching an intersection. I, like you, can be irritated by waiting. Good time to pray.
Love it, Cindy! I agree wholeheartedly–pray first!
Ahh, waiting. When I think of waiting I think of patience. I hardly have the patience to wait on anything these days. For my son to obey, for the cashier to ring up the person in front of me, for the cars on the road, for my browser to load, for the hard parts of this season to pass. But every time I get stopped in my tracks for being impatient, I look around and realize that God is showing me something, sharing part of him in the wait. Perhaps I have been learning to wait for eternity my whole life!
Lynn, thank you for your transparency! From my standpoint you have the patience of Job! Great perspective on waiting.
I often think about times in my life when I was “waiting” for the pain to end. When I went through a major depression, I thought my pain would never end. I kept waiting for help, waiting for answers, waiting for something. Once I admitted that I had a problem and got help from God, wonderful counselors, doctors, and my family, I could quit waiting and start doing. I finally was able to deal with the wait.
Ann, thank you for sharing such a painful part of your past and your triumph. You are an inspiration!
I think waiting for something to come or happen is not worthy of our time. If we are always waiting on something, then we are missing out on the here and now joys. I have the patience of Job, therefore I do not sit around worrying if something is going to happen or arrive or work out how I want it to work out. I
try to embrace each day for what it brings to me in my life and that way I can embrace today’s blessings and not focus on tomorrow. Today’s technological advances have turned us into a “now” generation. Where is the silence where we can here God speak to us and address our prayers? That is what I like to wait for
Kat, you truly do have supernatural patience in your life. With your recent kidney transplant and your beautiful family, you are a role model for us all. I also agree with essential silence as we listen to God. Thank you for sharing your perspective.
Your book sounds like it will be a good read. Hope this is what you were looking for
1) What are you waiting for? Right now I am waiting for my kids to wake up for school but I am NOT waiting for anything in my life right now. We are all healthy and busy and have a roof over our heads. But I have waited for a lot of things in the past.
2) How do you deal with waiting? It depends on what I am waiting for. At a store I have patience and usually say a prayer or 2. If I am waiting on my kids to get up I use the time for “me time” and enjoy a quiet cup of coffee. If I am waiting to meet someone and they are late I usually read or wait quietly. Waiting is one of the things I have learned you have to deal with head on. It is like getting older. I am going to be 49 in two months and could care less about the number as I have no control over it. That is typically how I view waiting. But using it to my advantage makes it not a bad thing.
3) Why does waiting bother you? I have found that because I have waited for so many things in the past that I don’t mind waiting. I actually enjoy it as most of the time there is not much I can do about it. This is particularly true with waiting to checkout in a store. i am always one to let someone go before me that has a few items. They always look surprised. That makes me happy.
4) What has been worth the wait? The birth of my miraculous children. After 3 miscarriages between 13 and 16 weeks I savored every bit of nausea, the pain of labor, the healing from both vaginal and c-section birth, sleepless nights, crying and sick babies, etc. I would do it ALL over again. Even the heartbreak of my 3 angel babies.
5) How have you/your faith grown from waiting? I was always taught that patience was a virtue and virtues are ways to act that God likes to see. It brings me closer to Him because oftentimes while waiting I pray.
6) Do you tend to rush the sunrise? Never. I am sitting here enjoying a cup of coffee and quiet before the storm of kids and husband waking up and getting ready for school/work. My favorite time is getting up early and enjoying peaceful time “waiting” for everyone else to get up! 😉
7) Any other advice or thoughts about waiting? Enjoy the wait. Think of others that have had to wait for something more important or precious. A wife waiting on a soldier to come back from war, a family member waiting for a medical diagnosis or procedure to be completed, a family waiting on any milestone from a Downs Syndrome or Trisomy 18 child. There are so many others but these I know.
During Advent we will savor each week up until the celebration of Jesus’s birth. On Christmas Eve we will have a birthday cake for him and remember why we celebrate Christmas!
Linda, wow. What a beautiful, heart-rending testimony. Thank you for showing your soul. You are a blessing to me and infinite others!
What am I waiting for? I am waiting for God to reveal his purpose for which He created me. He is doing so a little at a time and it is exciting to see the next part as it comes along. I truly believe that God has a plan for our lives and He will work that plan in all that trust in him.
As I wait, I try my best to live out that which He has already revealed to me and pray for wisdom to recognize the next.
I, like so many others, get anxious and want God to hurry up and let me know what’s next. I guess this is how He teaches me patience.
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Five years ago when God spoke to me in a very powerful way, I dedicated my live to Him. I prayed for several months after that for God to use me in his service. I was beginning to wonder if there was anything God wanted me to do for Him, but one Saturday evening when Danya called me and asked if I would consider serving on the governing council for SC Presbyterian Pilgrimage, it all changed. The ride has been awesome. God has led me into areas that I never dreamed I could or even would do before.
My faith has grown over these five years and I now know that I can do anything that God wants of me. He is always there to call on in times when I’m not sure of what I’m doing and that is most of the time. He always shows me how. He has revealed to me talents and abilities that I didn’t know I had. Thank you God.
My thoughts about waiting include spending a lot of time in prayer, be patient and trust God. His timing is always best. God knows what he has in store for each of us and in His time he will answer all of our prayers that are in His will.
JC, I’m so proud of you. Thank you for sharing your faith journey. I had no idea I played even a small part. To God be the Glory! I Love You!
Lately, I deal with waiting by working. Sometimes the work is at a job, and sometimes it is something I need to do at home or in another area of my life. My children took about 10 years longer than I thought, but they were worth the wait! I find that God knew what he was doing and let me be at the exact place I needed to be to handle what I’d need to handle with them. I may not have been the mother I needed to be if they had been born sooner. After all of that pining away, it turned out to be perfect timing!
I have tended to rush the sunset all of my life. Recently, I learned I’d better enjoy the season I’m in (Seasons podcast/Elevation Church). It makes perfect sense that I am in the season for a reason, and I can’t have someone else’s season. No one else can have mine. If I rush it, I won’t be the person God needs to handle the next season.
Wise words, Lynn.