"Waiting"

Sandee on my adoption board posted this article about "the wait" that happens in life. I loved this article and need to re-read it every day.


Introduction (from "You're Late Again, Lord!" by Karon Phillips
Goodman.

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope."
Psalm 130:5

I have to be, without a doubt, one of the most impatient people our
Lord ever put on this earth. Perhaps you're a close second, or
Heaven forbid, even worse. We live, therefore we wait. It seems
endless. Forever we wait on something to happen in our lives--to get
a job or to get a promotion, to quit a job or to move, to sell a
house or to buy a house, to save money or to have children, to start
school or to finish school, to get through a difficult time or to
overcome a hurt--it's always something. Whoever said "life is short"
must never have known the frustration of waiting forever on
something tht never seems to come.

Sometimes, our days feel like one long checkout line: constantly
waiting, barely inching forward, unable to see the obstacles,
doubtful of a satisfactory outcome in this lifetime. And then what
we're waiting comes or doesn't, we adjust, recover and move on. But
are we any better for the wait? Did we find the purpose the Lord had
tucked so carefully inside. Did we listen to God and learn, or did
we just complain about the circumstances?

Either way, when the wait is over, we shift our focus to a new wait,
and the feelings are all very familiar. Again, we grow impatient.
The cycle never ends. Through all the delays that we misunderstand,
we never seem to get very far from where we started. We stand still
on the path that matters most. The waiting is nothing more than a
time of frustration. We argue with our Lord over His timing and fail
to see that every day is a chance full of purpose--even if we're
waiting. Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's
purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21)

Yet we resist, complain, and sometimes get quite angry. Desperate
for God's touch, we move farther from Him, when we should be moving
closer. Do you ever find yourself in that kind of cycle--angry,
frustrated, and anything but patient with God?

If you do, welcome to the club--the Impatient Women's Club. Our
numbers swell daily when we are forced to abandon our normal plan of
attack and wait on God. We have become so accustomed to ordering and
orchestrating and planning and scheduling that it is incredibly hard
to admit that not all is within our control. Many decisions every
day are ours to handle, and we get pretty good at taking care of
things. We believe we could carry on even better if God would only
cooperate. We demand the answers we need from Him and yet we hear no
response. We question and condemn the intolerable delays in the
events we need to happen in our lives and yet nothing changes.
Doesn't God know that we need those answers NOW??!

Yes, He knows, but thankfully, He's smarter than we are. Becaues He
knows how hard it is for us to wait, to abandon control and to trust
beyond ourselves. He has devised a plan just for us. The basis of
the plan appeared many years ago, but it applies so well today, to
you and me. God is so clever. Your waiting doesn't have to be
unproductive--He knows our workhorse hearts. He knows our need to do
WHILE we wait. So when your life is at a standstill over what you
can't control, and when you're waiting on answers that never seem to
come, God says to use that time to work where you are. God says to
learn the art of waiting purposefully. Maybe that's what God had in
mind all along. Maybe that's why we wait.

Our stubborn hearts resist the wait, yet there is no
need. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, knoing that your labor is
not in vain in the Lord." (I corithians 15:58) We do steadfast and
immovable pretty well, don't you think? In this case, the
instruction is to "stand firm" and not be swayed from God's work.
The instruction is to follow God instead of trying so very hard to
hurry Him up.

When we ignore God's work for us , we misuse our valuable time and
yet can't understand why we have to wait over and over and over
again. You know the feeling. You see the waiting as an
inconvenience, but instead, it is a gift. there is no better time
than waiting time to learn how to become the disciple God needs and
the follower you want to be. Your work during that time is the
vehicle that will get you closer to God, if you let it. The Lord, in
His generosity and compassion, has already provided everything you
need. You can uncover the amzing blessings the waiting brings.

Beware though, because the plan God has provided takes work. It's no
quick fix. Waiting purposefully means working while you wait,
following God's word and surrendering to His will. It means focusing
on His view, not yours. It means coming face-to-face with God, in
all His glory and all your humility. It rarely means waiting for what
you THINK you're waiting for,but don't ever be afraid: the reward
is worth the work, and you don't have to wait (on the work). you can
start now.