We live in a culture that hates waiting.
We hate long lines at Walmart or waiting more than 15 minutes for a table at Olive Garden. The world falls apart when our Netflix show is buffering. We'll choose the lane with the least amount of cars because we hate sitting in traffic. We come up with games to play or things to read to pass the time, because waiting is almost never very fun.
And I'm not here to convince you otherwise. I'm not going to come up with a list of reasons why waiting is actually the best thing to ever happen to you or why you are the most blessed individual because you are in a season of waiting (even though those things could be true).
Maybe you are waiting on a job opening. You polished the resumé, submitted the application, and just want to know your status, whether good or bad because knowing is better than the waiting.
Maybe you are waiting for your perfect person. You are waiting to love and be loved in return, and not just anyone will do. You've been on the hunt in the relationship department, only to take a bullet yourself one too many times; and here you are deciding to wait for the right one to find you.
Maybe you are waiting for a sign. You are waiting to hear from God or the universe or whatever it is that is worthy of directing your life about the next part of the plan... where you should move, what your calling is, and how to get there.
Maybe you are just waiting for the pain of the present season to end. The light at the end of the tunnel isn't there, and you feel stuck in the space in between. It's been a rough week, month, year, and you are ready to finally be out of the woods.
Maybe you are just waiting for the pain of the present season to end. The light at the end of the tunnel isn't there, and you feel stuck in the space in between. It's been a rough week, month, year, and you are ready to finally be out of the woods.
Sometimes waiting can feel something like being forgotten.
We wonder if the job application was thrown away, if your card got lost in the deck of the matchmaking game, if you somehow slipped through the cracks of the master plan of the universe. Our worst fear is waiting forever, or worse... for nothing.
Like I said, I'm not going to pretend that waiting is the most glamorous of seasons. But a simple truth remains: the Lord is in it with us.
He's in the waiting. He is in the trenches with you, in the dry, barren wasteland that seems to stretch endlessly across the horizon. He's in the silence, and he's in the noise of confusion. He hasn't forgotten, and He isn't absent.
Countless men and women of the Bible endured seasons of waiting... for children, for husbands and wives, for victories, for freedom, and for the Messiah himself.
What I have learned in my own season of waiting is that it won't necessarily carry an element of fun or even a happy-go-lucky, skipping through life type of vibe. We don't have to fake it or gloss over what is not meant to be perfect. Waiting is not sunshine and rainbows, but sometimes a hard, white-knuckled grip around the hope that is the presence of Jesus. It is a sweet brokenness made bearable only by the fact that He dwells with us in every season.
I think God wants to use us in the waiting. Instead of sitting back and putting our feet up as the plan of life unfolds, we have the opportunity to plough through it head on. We can choose God without having to know the details of how or why or when. That, my friends, is true worship.
I think God wants to use us in the waiting. Instead of sitting back and putting our feet up as the plan of life unfolds, we have the opportunity to plough through it head on. We can choose God without having to know the details of how or why or when. That, my friends, is true worship.
I have faith that whatever you're waiting for will be worth it. I just know it. Not because of you or your circumstances or the way everything seems to work itself out, but because I have faith in a good God who is worth it and who brings purpose and reason to every situation.
**Fun fact: I wrote this post almost two weeks ago, and in those two weeks, God has brought so much affirmation to these thoughts. The line "He's in the waiting" is from the song Take Courage by Kristene Dimarco and is originally what inspired this post. Last week on Good Friday, I went to a worship night where they played this song. I've never heard that song played in a service, so the fact that it was on the set list brought tears to my eyes. I know that song was for me to let me know the Lord sees me in this season. He loves us so much, ya'll.
**Fun fact: I wrote this post almost two weeks ago, and in those two weeks, God has brought so much affirmation to these thoughts. The line "He's in the waiting" is from the song Take Courage by Kristene Dimarco and is originally what inspired this post. Last week on Good Friday, I went to a worship night where they played this song. I've never heard that song played in a service, so the fact that it was on the set list brought tears to my eyes. I know that song was for me to let me know the Lord sees me in this season. He loves us so much, ya'll.
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