This week, Stasi discussed waiting on God. Have you ever found yourself in a holding pattern? It is not unusual for God's children to experience a time of wandering, of lostness or of seeming stagnation as they wait upon the fulfillment of God's promises or callings. Noah labored over the ark for 60-70 years, enduring the loneliness and potential self-doubt of other's skepticism and ridicule while he awaited the flood. Abraham took his family and responded to God's call at 75! He had his promised son, Isaac at 100 years old! Moses heard from God at 40, but spent the next 40 years as a sheep farmer, before returning to Egypt to lead the Israelites. You get the point....
It is hard to wait, isn't it? I look at a recipe for beans and think, "soak overnight?! I can't even heat up a mug of water in the microwave without pacing impatiently!" Every kid, and anyone who ever was a kid, has recited this popular refrain on a long family car-ride, "Are we there yet?" It is a lament that continues into adulthood, as we wait upon a soulmate, job, home or child. But, perhaps the most agonizing wait is the wait for deliverance.
When waiting for a lost child to be found, a suspicious x-ray to be read, an alcoholic spouse to seek help or a depression to lift, the wait becomes the event itself. In the helpless stillness of inactivity, we come face to face with I AM.
As many of you know, my husband and I were in ministry for over ten years, when he had what we call "a breakdown". For five years, every prayer, every worship song...every wish upon a birthday candle was dedicated to my husband's restoration. I wanted our life back, exactly the way that it was. But God, in His wisdom, wanted more. During those five years, I started a job at APC, had our daughter Anna and began my social work education. Literally the day that I received my license in social work, my husband had a spiritual experience with God and returned to Him. I'll never forget coming home from an outpatient therapy session with a thirteen year old girl in crisis, and my husband saying, "you are going to save someone's life, someday." It was my Joseph moment.
I will never believe that God wants us to suffer. No good parent wants that. I repeat NO good parent wants that. However, God will tolerate and even allow us to suffer, knowing that He can use our waiting as material to bring transformation and salvation to us and those around us. Thank you God, for redeeming every moment for your glory! "And we know that for those who love God, that is, for those who are called according to his purpose, all things are working together for good." Roman 8:28
