We are ALL waiting for something.
Maybe you’re waiting in line right now, waiting for the timer on the oven to beep, or waiting for that phone call. You’re waiting to hear if you’re forgiven… or maybe you’re waiting to hear the baby’s heartbeat.
You might be waiting for a positive pregnancy test or for good news from your boss.
Or… are you waiting for a job? a ride? encouragement?
So…. What Are You Waiting For?
The reality is this…we are all waiting for something. What is it for you? If you can’t pinpoint it, ask yourself this: what am I nervous about or anxious for?
Isn’t it tough sometimes to just. wait? Like really, really hard? I don’t know about you, but waiting can cause me to be ugly. That is simply because waiting requires patience, and that far too often tends to be a lacking fruit in this season of my life with young kids. What else does waiting require? Hope. Trust. Surrender. But honestly, I think that those are words we toss around way too easily as followers of Jesus. What do those terms even mean?
Let me first say this…
My family right now—we are waiting… for our our boy to be home with our family. We started at #77 on the adoption wait list for Ethiopia, and after 15 months just on the list, we are still at #15. There are have been far too many months where our number has remained motionless.
Yes I know we have been blessed with 3 biological children who thrill us, humble us, and bless us every day. Ryan and I love them more than life itself.
But we also have a son, and he’s not with us yet. I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who have been walking this road of adoption with us. All of those people have their kiddos home now, as we still wait.
So what does waiting do deep within me and what could it do for you?
It causes us to decide whether we will rejoice with those who are rejoicing. It causes us to celebrate OTHER people even when we don’t get the same blessing, promotion, or get-outta-jail-free-card. And it reminds us to weep and mourn with those who are suffering and waiting and walking on much longer, tougher, or more painful roads.
Even as we wait we are to “rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them… Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:12-13, 15 NLT).
Or… put another way, we are to “rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer… Rejoice with those who rejoice (sharing others’ joy), and weep with those who weep (sharing others’ grief)” (AMP version).
What does God’s word tell us to do as we wait or as we “suffer?” It tells us to be patient and to keep on praying. It tells us to step beyond ourselves. My dear friend said this to me the other day: God does so much good work when we wait. It’s so hard, but He has work to do in us all.
“…We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy” (Romans 8: 23-25 MSG).
So join me today and take your waiting to the Father. Open your hands in surrender, and ask God what He has for you in this time.
Blessings,
Libby Snow
