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I've been learning a lot these days about waiting.
We receive a barrage of messages that we should take more ownership of our dreams. Ask "What does God want me to do?", believe and then DO it. You don't need all the answers; you don't need to know every detail. What you need is more courage to go after what God has told you He wants you to do.
Leap, they say. Take a risk. You'll never know if you don't try.
And that's all true. But what I'm learning these days is, sometimes waiting can be harder than leaping.
I don't even realize the myriad of ways I'm conditioned to forcing it. Forcing my timing. Forcing my plan. Forcing my vision. Forcing my dream on my terms. But I'm starting to see glimpses.
And so, this is my thought today.
In your impulsiveness, DON'T.
In your neediness, DON'T.
In your insecurity, DON'T.
In your hard day, DON'T.
Sometimes it's actually harder to say: I have no clue. I don't know what I'm waiting for. I'm not sure, yet. I don't know why.
Sometimes it's actually harder to believe and be confident when you feel like you're standing still. To feel certain God is at work when nothing appears to be happening.
Sometimes the waiting is the time when we are really being chiseled. The isometric exercise of freezing right now, believing in the promise He made, and letting HIM do the work.
Waiting is not passive. It's active.
It's a relinquishing. It's a choice to hold up, survey, and wait for command. Deciding not to abandon ship or charge the battle in haste.
It's letting Him lead, when all the fear and frustration wants to take the helm.
It demands faith--that He knows, hears, cares, and gives what's best--for you and for those you love (He loves them more)--and He will bring to pass every single thing He wills in His timing.
It requires conscious effort--every ounce of discipline, especially when you want something so badly.
It's hard, I know. But His promises in His time will not disappoint.
Grace as you wait,
5 comments:
love it, Karen! I hate waiting, so I'm your typical "forcer". I like your "don'ts". I'm going to take you up on that. It's something God has been working in me.
Yes! God keeps reminding me how long some people in the Bible had to wait: Abraham was promised descendants and had to wait years and years. Joseph was given amazing dreams and had to endure terrible, unjust years of waiting ...
I'm not always thrilled to wait, but I think it's where God has me now.
This post meets me right where I am currently. I'm reminded of God rescuing His chosen from Egypt, surely in response to many years of their prayers. I imagine the desire of their hearts included a lot more than just being rescued, but being delivered to the Promised Land.
God answers our prayers and the desire of our hearts, but things don't always fall into place and work out just as we hoped and certainty not in our preferred timing. These instances are opportunities to increase our faith and trust in His ability to do far more than we ever asked our imagined- in a way that is a testament to Him working supernaturally in our lives.
To God be the glory!
"Waiting is not passive. It's active." love that! So sooooo true.
Yes! I had a conversation with my 9 year old daughter about this, and I asked her, "Do you know what waiters do?" intending to explain that waiting is active as opposed to passive and she answered, "Take orders?"
Wow. Yes, while we are waiting on the Lord, we are serving Him in obedience. That wasn't where I thought I was going with our conversation, but the Holy Spirit had something to say to me through my daughter. She hit the nail on the head, didn't she? :-)
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