Waiting is the hardest part.

Those lyrics have been going through my head lately, as I wait for God to move in my life.  I think we all must suffer from a form of impatience at one time or another.  I looked up the lyrics of that song only to find multiple web pages dedicated to ‘waiting’ songs.  Most of them have to do with waiting on love, but the sense of impatience, of futility and frustration is still there, burning bright.

We had to get rid of our second car recently, it was beyond our ability to repair it, and waiting for God to supply us with the means to get a new one is hard.  We are greatly blessed to have a tight-knit group of friends who offer rides, who we can count on—but that doesn’t take away that edgy, trapped feeling I have whenever I think of running off to the store to pick up something we are out of, or making a doctors appointment.  When I go outside to get the mail, there’s that gaping empty spot on our driveway reminding me we are stuck.

It’s gotten much easier to say no to activities (see earlier post Just Say No).  But, it sure wasn’t in MY plans to do it this way!

We’re all waiting for something—a medical test result, healing from illness, a better job, any unmet need—and it’s not an easy thing.  Over the course of last year we learned to wait while my son was being treated for intestinal bleeding.  We still don’t have a diagnosis, but we can usually control it through diet.  A habit I’m trying to form is not only patience, but also an understanding that the waiting is also part of the answer from God.

Romans 5: 1-5  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Isa 40:29-31 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.