I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m no expert on the subjects of patience and contentment. But I’m sure you probably guessed that already 😉 My personality is a driver and a doer. I want things done and I want them done RIGHT now. Nothing irritates me more than when someone or something is wasting my time and I get particularly annoyed when things don’t go according to my timetable or to do list.Just being real with you, I really struggle with control. You too? Read on.
I’m a flawed individual who doesn’t always get it right but I do try to speak from my heart and encourage you with whatever God is teaching me at the moment. That’s what sisters are supposed to do with each other isn’t it? It’s my belief the world will be a better place when women stop pretending to be perfect and start showing each other our struggles and how we persevere through them. That’s my goal today, to share my struggles. You can trust I don’t talk about anything on my blog or Facebook page that I don’t have a personal experience with or haven’t walked through myself.
So let’s talk about waiting….
No doubt each of us has something we’re waiting desperately for. A baby, a husband, a job, a promotion, clarity, a prodigal child, a breakthrough; whatever it is that God’s promised us we have to wait on it and it sucks. Really sucks. Not one of us really like to wait for anything. It’s not in our human nature to be patient. It’s why we need the Holy Spirit empowering us so much. To make matters worse, it seems that in the bottom of our waiting/despair rollercoaster is always that well meaning friend or person who walks up to you and spouts out a Christian one liner like “just be patient” or “blessed is he who waits upon the Lord” or “his ways are not our ways, just trust”.
Don’t you just want to punch those people in the face sometimes? I mean if it was that easy we would have done it already. Ohhhhhh. Ok thank you. I’m sorry I was so unware of that fact. I’ll just try harder then (sarcasm noted).
But here’s the truth and as much as I don’t like it, waiting is warring. Seriously. It’s a flat out battle that will require you to show up ready everyday and put on the full armor of God. We are proving if we can be trusted with what we are asking for.
It’s not enough to simply wait. Waiting alone doesn’t build our faith. HOW we wait does. Will we give into discouragement, unbelief, and hopelessness? OR, will we rise up everyday to renew our minds and willing choose to believe in the promise God gave us regardless of the circumstances.
“For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” James 3-4
It’s no easy task but that my friend, is the point. Waiting is like spiritual boot camp for us believers. It’s meant to test our hearts and help us grow in endurance. But if we aren’t careful it can completely deprive us of rest and peace. That’s no way to live.
Waiting is a war for truth. What we believe to be true about God and his goodness and HIS timing. I speak from experience that when we whine to God and allow ourselves to grow frustrated with him then we start to hide from him. We start to self protect our hearts from him because we don’t want to be let down.
It’s why we become miserable in the waiting.
Waiting is also a war for your time. I see so many people that are in a major waiting battle but they’ve put their whole lives on hold in the process. You may be waiting for a promise but you ARE NOT waiting for your life to start. Life is right now and is happening all around you, regardless of the actual one thing you are waiting for. So do what God has told and commissioned you to do with excellence and war in prayer while you wait on that promise. The kingdom of God is at hand.
Prepare yourself and your life for the blessing you are asking to receive. We have to let go of the mindset that we will cross that bridge when it gets here or we’ll just figure it out when it happens. We have to do what we know how to do, choosing to never give up and let God be God. He doesn’t need our help.
Lastly, I’ve learned the hard way that you CAN NOT make people or things move faster than they decide to. You have to work harder on yourself than you do anyone else.
Waiting IS warring and it’s point is to develop character in us and mold us while we are in our cocoons so to speak. It’s making us and taking us to a new level more than anything else. People need to see us in our wait and watch us persevere. THIS brings glory to God.
Don’t give into hopelessness or despair. Fight. Be stubborn and war against complacency, whining, and inactivity. We are all called to live a life that proves what we believe.
Let’s believe. Let’s wait. Let’s war. After all, HE has done the same for us and has waited far longer. Let’s be like him.
Warring,
Lindsey Nadler
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