Waiting

I hate waiting. I have to be one of the most impatient people on the planet. I find the shortest lines, take the fastest routes and put things off if it means that I may have to wait.
If something needs to be done, I do it now...I can't wait. When a problem comes along, I need a solution now...I can't wait. To me, waiting is just a needless inturruption in my busy schedule. It is wasted time. The problem is, I can't avoid waiting...no one can! So, I am usually just making myself crazy when the wait comes my way.

I'm reading this book that addresses waiting on God. It talks about waiting purposefully. God brings us to our "waiting rooms" to reach us and teach us. Not to irritate or upset us. It encourages us to view our waiting times as opportunities. Opportunities to grow closer to Him. When we are waiting on God we are not waiting for the outward thing...whatever it is that we want or we think we are waiting for. We are waiting on the inward work that God is doing in our lives.

I am waiting on God right now. For something I have wanted for a long time. Even though God has never let me down before, waiting for Him is SO hard. I have been viewing this wait just like all the others. A needless waste of my time. I've felt like I had to just sit back and be silent, accepting that nothing is happening until God decides to answer my prayer.

Now I see that God is not doing "nothing" he is still working. It is true that I may not get the "answer" to what I am waiting for, at least not in the time that I would like it. But this is not about what I'm waiting for, it is about what God is waiting for. He's waiting for me to become mature and complete, not lacking anything. The hope of His Glory through me. I just need to humble myself before Him (accept that I cannot control this, and that He knows best) so that in HIS time he can lift me up. (1 Peter 5:6)

And I don't need to just sit back and be silent. He knows that waiting is not easy for me. He knows that I desperately want the desires of my heart but I am willing to submit to the desires of His heart. So I cry out to him, pour my heart out to him, sometimes I even beg him. Bottom line is that I communicate with Him. I cast all my cares on Him because He cares for me (I Peter 5:7). And if I continue to do that, through it all, I grow closer to Him. Learning what my purpose is and what plan he has for me.

So...waiting...a waste of time...hardly. Turns out, it is a lot of work.