Waiting. 

Waiting is part of life. From an early age we are taught to wait. 

Wait your turn. 

Wait in line. 

And of course the ever popular phrase “good things come to those who wait”. 

But when I search I can’t find that phrase in scripture. The closest verse is Lamentations 3:25 which says “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him”. So what scripture actually says is “Wait for the Lord”.

Waiting isn’t always easy. For many waiting implies there will be an answer or an action to come. But what happens when we wait and the answer isn’t what we expected or hoped and prayed for?

After a traumatic divorce I waited. I thought I was waiting for God to redeem the marriage I had lost. I spent years pleading with the Lord to restore that marriage, to heal the brokenness, to be the God of redemption I’d read about. After years of waiting (for what I wanted) I realized that wasn’t the plan. So then I thought I was waiting for God to bring me another husband. So of course I began to pray for that. But in reality, God was waiting for me. He was waiting for me to turn to Him. To fully give my life to Him. To be content in my singleness. To be content in Him. To not be defined by my circumstances, but instead to be defined by who I am in Him. It wasn’t until then that I realized that my Savior was what I was waiting for all along. Those were some of the sweetest and hardest times of my life. Finally surrendering myself, surrendering my plan for His, surrendering my wants to His desires for my life, and asking for forgiveness from where I’d fallen short, from selfishness.

From there waiting turned to abiding. I discovered a deeper relationship with my Savior when I remained in Him, when my constant dependence was on Him and not this world. For apart from Christ, I could do nothing. I couldn’t heal a broken marriage. I couldn’t find a new husband. I couldn’t produce sweet fruit. I could do nothing apart from Him. I became a new creation in Christ and my priorities changed. 

I poured myself into serving Christ by spending every Sunday morning in the baby room at church, by attending my former student’s games, recitals, birthday parties, and baptisms, by volunteering in my community, by being part of a singles Bible study group. God could do much with the little I had to offer. All I had to do was offer it. I found myself thankful for singleness. Thankful for the time I had to pour into others. Thankful for my Savior who filled me with His love and mercy. 

But that’s not the end of my story, even though I was content. 

But God. He had other plans that I couldn’t see. 

A few years later, God, in His kindness, brought me my Matt. A man after His own heart. For I know that “every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17)

When you find yourself in the waiting, be encouraged. The Lord is there waiting for you. He’s been there all along. He longs to hold your hand and walk with you, gently beside you. 

It was in the waiting that I found peace and contentment, a true relationship with my Savior.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Are you currently in the waiting? Or when can you remember a time of being in the waiting?

2. Where do you see God in the waiting?

3. How can you more fully abide in your Savior and in His love for you?