Yeah, it’s a new year and we’re all trying to get rid of those pesky pounds we’ve put on over the holidays, but that’s not the “wait” problem I’m talking about today. No, I’m talking about my inability to trust God when I don’t have the answers that I think I should. And believe me, I often feel like I’m in waiting mode in some area of my life. Can you relate?

 

Perhaps you’re waiting on:

• Your spouse to wake up to your marriage and really make you a priority in his or her life?
• Your circumstances to change from constant pain and pressure to a smooth patch?
• Your patience to grow when your spouse tests it?
• Your financial situation to get better or at least to agree with your spouse on what to do?
• Your marriage to move from messy to at least manageable?
• Your children to realize that you are for them and not against them?
• Your incessant need to argue with your spouse to melt into godly surrender when the heat’s on?

Well, whatever it is that you’re waiting on, we all can agree that sometimes the waiting feels harder than the “not having.”

For me, the hardest part about waiting is that I don’t really believe that God has my best in mind. I think that I know better what my best is and usually my best involves getting something now … not tomorrow, not next month or certainly not next year, but NOW!

I’m missing something when I have that mentality. And no, I’m not talking about whatever it is that I am waiting on God to give me. I’m missing the fact that the waiting is often more important than whatever it is that I want. I’m forgetting that the waiting is God’s gym for building my spiritual muscles.

Dave Harvey in his book, When Sinners Say I Do, says …

“Waiting works things into our souls and our marriages that nothing else can.”

In other words, the very things we need are created and strengthened in us as we wait. We can’t bypass this process of God. If we do, we will not be blessed, but rather indulged. I don’t know about you but whenever I’m indulged for any length of time, I become a very self-absorbed, empty person. It’s not a “filling up” that I’m doing when I bypass God’s wait.

Now, don’t think that I’ve got this all down, folks!

I’m preaching this one to myself first and foremost. But I also know that waiting is what a lot of you are struggling with right now. I just want to encourage you to know that I believe …

God is His most active in your life while you wait.

You may not see the work because it’s done in the “unseen realm” but He is working for your benefit and for His.

Trust me in this … scratch that—Trust Him!

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” –James 1:2-3 (NIV)

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” –2 Cor. 4:16-18 (NIV)

One more thing, I just want to point out that we have been honored to be included in Catholic Dating Site’s Top 100 Marriage and Relationship Blogs. Click on the link and discover some other great Christian blogs out there on their list!

photo by Barkaw

Linking up with NOBH, Monday’s Musings, Matrimonial Monday, and Playdates with God