Do You Trust Me When My Answer Is "Wait?" - From Blacktop to Dirt Road

I don’t like to wait, I never have. Waiting seems counterproductive to me. I’m a woman of action; when I have a goal or envision something in my future, I want to act on that idea now. If I’m told to wait on anything (especially if things aren’t going my way) my first thought is that is seems to be counterproductive.

I. Want. It. My. Way. Now.

But more often than not, waiting has been a part of my story, and I’m guessing it’s a part of your story, too. And it’s in these hidden seasons of waiting for my hopes and dreams and desires to come to fruition that God molds and shapes my heart… but only if I surrender to Him allow His Spirit to transform me. And it’s through these seasons of surrender that I’m continuing to learn that waiting is an act of practicing patience, and it’s something I can’t achieve on my own.

Another word that seems to coincide with waiting is endurance. This word reminds me of what Paul refers to in Colossians 1:11 when he talks of “being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.” Now if you’re like me, you immediately recognize that the word “joy” is thrown in there with endurance and patience. They don’t seem to naturally go together, do they? But we are called to have this unexplainable joy when these seasons of waiting to come upon us. But how do we do this? The father in his lovingkindness grants us endurance to tread these uncharted waters; our endurance is the way out. And the more we trust those whispers from him in the hidden places of waiting, the stronger our endurance becomes. And joy begins to grow.

The bottom line? Waiting bites. It bites and it can be so painful. But if we don’t have the necessary wait, we can’t have to eternal victory. It’s impossible for me know know what kind of season of waiting you’re in right now. But I do know that your waiting is a part of your story for His glory.

You and your spouse are struggling with infertility, waiting for the child you so desperately long for; when will it be your turn?
You are the parents of a prodigal son or daughter; when will you finally see them at the end of your road coming back home?
You desire to become a SAHM, but you can’t make it work right now; when will your time at home finally come?
You are in a hard place in your marriage- separation, adultery, divorce, anger; when will the pieces of your broken heart be healed?
You are living in a health crisis, your body is failing you, you are in physical pain; when will the healing come? Will you ever see healing this side of Heaven?
You are in the trenches of motherhood; when will there be a stage of life that is easier?
You find yourself in seasons of loneliness; when will you not feel so alone?

When? When? When? It’s just not fair.

So what do you do when His answer is “wait?” Let me encourage you with this from Micah 7:7: “But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.” I encourage you to wait in expectation, knowing that God is worthy of your trust in the seasons of waiting. And when our expectations are God-sized, the results will follow.

Because moments of greatness are often birthed from seasons of great wait.

He uses the wait to create the greatness, sweet friends. And who knows, you may find that while you are in these times of endurance that God uses that season to bless us with something at the end of the wait that is completely different than what we had been waiting for in the beginning. But here’s the kicker: we never would have been able to receive that moment of greatness if it hadn’t been for our perseverance during the wait. So wait in joyful expectation for the Lord soften your heart towards his will, girl friend. Even when His timeline doesn’t match up with yours, let your wait give way to His great.