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We all have those waiting moments, months, maybe even years in our lives where it seems like nothing is really happening. In the wait for a college acceptance letter. The wait for a proposal. The wait for the job. The wait for babies. We are never truly on our own timeline. While actively pursuing and waiting for dreams, goals and specific outcomes to become our reality, we can easily get lost in the journey and want to head straight to the outcome instead of resting in the wait where God is realigning us for the outcome He has planned for us. We may feel like we are stuck in a holding pattern if we stay too long in the wait or like life is quickly passing us by if we stay in the wait too long. Our timeline not getting met can put us into a sense of urgency that makes us want to jump into the right now. The temptations from the world around us keep us distracted from what God has for us and the enemy prowls around us like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8) with a smile on his face, waiting for us to lose our patience with where God has us. But if God has us in the waiting, that is exactly where God wants us and is working within us. It’s here in the wait, the struggle, the darkness, the confusion and the hardship where life changing heart transformations take place by our Heavenly Father. If we keep our eyes fixed on the One who holds all the plans, then it all becomes much more clear to see the the wait as part of the journey that He has for us and to see first hand the unfolding to the outcome right in front of us.
In the waiting it can appear that God is slow, but in reality once we are able to get past the wait for whatever it is, we can look back and see why we needed to wait. God’s timeline rarely lines up with our own timeline. Thankfully He sees the whole picture that we are unable to see. The waiting allows us to sit in it, to feel it, to process all things on a deeper level and to learn from God that we can’t do any of this on our own. We can get frustrated and even angry while we wait, but once you believe that God holds the plan and is working all things for your good, you can rest knowing that the wait is where God is not only working on what you are going after, but He is working on your heart to align with what He has in store for you and most importantly to align your desires with what His will is for your life.
The distractions of the world, the noise that surrounds us, and what the world tells us we need or what we should be pouring ourselves into can feel suffocating at times. We can get so lost within titles, accomplishments, and salary amounts, that we lose track of why we are here and our earthly purpose. Our identity can get shaky if we aren’t rooted in Christ and what God has in store for our lives can and will get blurry if we lose our way. There have been times in my life when I have felt so stuck in a waiting pattern that my impatience slowed the flow of the Holy Spirit within me. God’s voice and guidance were silenced within me because I was so busy trying to take the reigns and lead my own way. Thankfully by His grace and mercy I hit a dead end pretty quickly. I had taken my eyes off the One who holds the plan and listened to my voice louder than His. Through my impatience, I lost my way and I was on the edge of what felt like a pit close to losing myself. I was blinded by what I wanted instead of what God had for me. I had reached some of the darkest days where my brain felt like it was on fire at times with so much noise around me and enough distractions to fill up a football field, but from the outside it looked like my world was spinning peacefully in harmony. God showed me through my own life experiences that things are not always what they seem to be. He reminded me to check in on family and friends even when they appear to be doing well and how all of us will and do experience spiritual battle even if we do not realize that is what is going on around us.
I needed that dark. I needed the fire and the noise within my brain. I needed that wait for the realignment to happen. God was working even though I couldn’t see it at the time it was all happening to me, around me and within me. God taught me so much about life and about myself through these years of feeling one way, but appearing to look another way. He had me in this limbo and waiting while He was aligning my heart desires with the desires that He had planned for me. I knew God’s presence was what was keeping me going and I knew He was fully in control. Through these years, my faith was strengthened not because I saw things happening but it was because I could feel things happening and it all directed me into a closer relationship with God. It took surrender, many prayers, and keeping in step with the Holy Spirit to knock the distractions away, to enjoy and embrace solitude and growth, and to give my nervous system a break from the hustle that the world had me in. It is so true that our bodies keep score. For years my nervous system was working overtime, but with being forced to slow down through multiple waiting months and years, God one by one simmered the fires in my brain as He carried me through them.
We see trouble and we want to run and flee from it, but God says, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16.33
We see our mess-ups and our failures, but God says, “He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
We see and experience waiting as a road block for what we want, maybe even as a weakness for what we can’t get, but David tells us in Psalm 27:14, “wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
Trusting, seeking, and praying while we wait brings clarity, stability and builds our faith while He draws us into a closer, more personal relationship with Him. The wait is a gift from God.
XX- Ashley
“God is our strength and refuge, an ever-present help in trouble.” Psalm 46.1