What do you do when you have to wait? We’ve grown accustomed to instant food, instant access, and instant gratification of nearly everything we want. We live in a “let’s get on with it” world that seems increasingly uncomfortable with silence and mindful inactivity. But waiting provides opportunities for us to GROW and to GLOW (go light our world):
Waiting at a stop light – pray for your fellow travelers. (Keep your eyes open so you don’t irritate them by missing the green light.:-))
Waiting in the checkout line – encourage a stranger in line with you. Share God’s love.
Waiting for someone to show up – pray for them. Ask for God’s discernment about your role in the meeting.
Waiting for an answer to prayer – carve out time to be quiet each day to pray and to listen to what God’s Word says. Say out loud the things for which you already are thankful.
God has a plan for us whereEVER we are, even in the Waiting Room of life. While you wait for a new mission, God has a mission for you right now, right where you are. David waited 14 years between being anointed as king and serving as king. Paul also waited 14 years between conversion and his first missionary journey. Moses of course waited even longer. Do you think they sat on the porch of life and twiddled their thumbs while they waited? No, and neither should we if we really want to seek God’s best in our lives.
God has a plan for each of us while we wait, actually three plans: to PROTECT us, to PREPARE us, and to PROVIDE for us. He protects us by keeping us from rushing into something that may be dangerous for us. He uses times of waiting which often seem like trials, to better prepare our hearts and to equip us for the next part of our journey. And He uses times of waiting to provide for us by ministering to our bodies, our minds, and our soul.
It has been two and a half years since we heard God’s call to serve Him in South America. Then leukemia came. During this time of waiting, He continues to remind us that we have a mission here, even though not completely revealed. But as we wait also for that we know His constant mission for each of us is to have us draw ever closer to Him, in dependence and in surrender. Always, we continue to learn what it means to really behave like a “new creation” in Christ. The answer is always found in submitting our will to the Holy Spirit and responding to that part of the mission that is clearly revealed.
In the still quiet moments of your day, ask him to reveal more of His nature to you. Draw closer to Him and submit your agenda for His, renewing your mind with His Spirit. Then receive His will for you, His good, perfect pleasing, and perfect will. . . Even as you wait.
