Still Waiting

It seems like the majority of your life can be spent waiting for something. Waiting for loved ones to be saved, waiting for a better job, waiting to find the perfect spouse, waiting to buy or improve a home, waiting for kids, waiting for your kids to grow up, waiting in line, or waiting at stop lights. I was thinking about this today as I was praying for a court date for our boys to come through. Four out of the five families have already gotten dates, but we are still waiting. I am a little disappointed but at perfect peace with God's time frame and not mine. I am quickly reminded that we haven't waited nearly as long as some people have while going through an adoption.

I sincerely believe that we wait most of our lives for a purpose. God is more interested in the process that we go through than the end result. Now don't get me wrong, God does care about an answered prayer, but He wants us to grow in our godliness as well. Here are a few lessons I have learned about waiting.

1. Waiting often aligns my will with God over time.
2. Waiting teaches me life lessons that I would have never learned without the struggle.
3. Waiting reminds me that God is ultimately in control, not me.
4. When the answer comes, after the wait, I can look back and see God's perfect timing and sovereignty.
5. Waiting teaches me contentment in my circumstances.
6. Instead of fighting the wait, see what I can learn and be taught through it.
7. I often use my excuse of "waiting for something" or "waiting for a better time" as an excuse for not doing anything at all.

Waiting can also be a time of resting upon God. This reminds me of Isaiah 40:31, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary."

One of my favorite quotes, which I have taped to my kitchen cupboard, comes from Elisabeth Elliot: "Today is mine. Tomorrow is none of my business. If I were to peer anxiously into the fog of the future, I will strain my spiritual eyes so that I will not see clearly what is required of me today."
I can become so preoccupied with having to wait that I miss the blessings of today. Waiting should not be an excuse for me to put off or cancel my duties or do something that God has called me to work on or do in my life. So many people think that waiting is passive when in fact it is active. You should not be twiddling your thumbs, but should be actively pursuing God's heart and mind as part of your waiting.
I am called to wait peacefully and fully trust and hope in God. I am only called to live each day to my fullest and trust Him with my future.
Instead of saying my kingdom come, my will be done, it is worth waiting so I can say your kingdom come, and your will be done.