How You Wait

It seems like everywhere I turn these days, someone I know is pregnant, about to deliver or has just had a baby.  Just in the last couple of weeks, I know of 4 people who have had babies. Some are new moms and others are seasoned moms. Some have had difficult and life threatening pregnancies and others have had no complications at all.  Yet, despite those differences, they all had one thing in common.  Yup, you guessed it!  They have all had to wait.  

I have been thinking about this in light of a conversation I had with myself (and the Lord) recently regarding this waiting process. About a week ago, a very strange and scary thought came in my mind as it relates to different areas of my life and my purpose. (I will share more details in another post). The thought came after I received an email about a potential opportunity that kind of set me down this path of “what ifs” and “could it be Lord?” followed by “really God?!” and “you can’t be serious!” My thought process was both exhilarating as well as frightening to say the least. About 10 minutes after that, I was scrolling through my feed on Facebook and saw a small clip about “Jumping”, which led me down another path of thinking. What really shook me and caused me to pause was the very next day, a friend of mine tagged me in different video, unbeknownst to her, about “Jumping” with a similar message. I just laughed. I have learned, especially in these last several years, to pay attention when I hear, see or read something more than once from different sources.  It is usually the Lord trying to get my attention or tell me something.

Why am I saying all this? I am glad you asked. The first question I asked myself after all of these non coincidental occurrences that transpired over a course of several days is, “Am I really ready?” The second question I asked is, “What have I done to really prepare?” Now raise your hands or just nod your heads if you know that God is on a different schedule than us when it comes to things for which we are waiting?  I see you nodding. It is funny that He is the Author of time and yet, He does not even abide by it. Clearly, He is above it. Instead, He gives it to us. The question is, “What are you doing with this time while you wait?”

I believe there are different ways of waiting as well as stages in waiting. I will address these in future posts, but for now let us deal with one in particular. Earlier, I mentioned the one thing that all of the pregnant women and new mommies had in common. They all had to wait. I would even go so far as to say they were expectant and if they weren’t, their family and friends surely were/are. I thought about this as it relates to pregnancy and a post I read from a friend of a friend’s blog last year. You can check it out here. You see, God knew what He was doing when He allowed women to have a period of time before the baby arrived. This time was necessary, not only for the baby’s proper development, but for the mom’s development as well–physically, emotionally, financially, mentally and spiritually. It was also a time for her to prepare. This is what I want to touch on. You see, her entire life was about to change so God was gracious enough to give her the time to prepare while she was expecting. For now, I will leave you with this same email message I sent to my Haiti team family prior to us leaving for Haiti as well as some questions to ask yourself while you are waiting.

Many of us are waiting for the Lord to answer some prayers that we shared openly at our last meeting together as well as unspoken ones that only the Lord knows. In exactly two months from this date, we will be traveling to Haiti.  I am excited and I am expectant about what the Lord is going to do for, through and with all of us as well as what He is going to do for our Haiti family at Grace International and all the children/families that will be blessed this Christmas.  I encourage you to hold on to His promises as you prepare and wait expectantly. Psalm 18:30a says, “God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true.” If He said it, He will do it.  Just expect it.  Just believe.

Reflection

1. How have you positioned yourself in preparation to receive what you are expecting/waiting for?
2. How are you preparing NOW as you are waiting, hopefully, expectantly?
3. How is the Lord trying to develop you–physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually in this season of waiting, especially if your life is about to change once you receive what you have been waiting for?
4. Have you considered that this season of waiting, whether it has been 2 weeks or 17 years, is a gift–His time–that He has given you to get you prepared or to prepare you?
5. Can you honestly say right now that if you were to receive exactly what you were waiting for that you would be prepared and ready to receive it?

Stay tuned for the next post!