In my 28 years of life, I’ve yet to meet someone who enjoys waiting. As a mama of five, I’m pretty sure it’s my kids’ least favorite word. When they want a snack but I’m nursing the baby, they’re told to wait. When they want to run downstairs on Christmas morning and I need to quickly grab my camera first, they’re told to wait. When my eyes have barely opened in the morning and their energy level is already on 1,000, they’re told to keep it down and wait. Come on mamas, I know I’m not the only one. “Wait” has become a pretty common word in my vocabulary these days.

Yet, when I’m told by my heavenly Father to wait, I’m all of a sudden impatient, complaining and wondering why on earth do I have to wait? Like a kid, I’m so eager to receive what’s coming because I know it’s going to be so good and so fulfilling.

But, there is an intentional purpose behind why we must learn to wait. Waiting on God is being okay sitting in the passenger seat. The only example of this I can think of is driving with my husband. Wives, please don’t leave me out here to dry. It has taken me basically all 9 years of our marriage to not co-pilot with my husband when he’s driving. He has a style of driving and I have a very differing style. But ultimately, when we are in the car together, when I sit in that passenger seat, I’m giving up my way of navigating to respect his. Imagine being God, having everything worked out for an individual and that individual decides to take all these different routes that weren’t apart of the master map and now has delayed the original arrival date. You’d be pretty annoyed I’m sure. Yet God isn’t annoyed one bit.

Being Patient With Patience

Wait by definition is to stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or until something else happens. Why is waiting hard? You could be waiting on your spouse, waiting to get pregnant, waiting for the right job, or maybe you’re waiting for an answer of some sort. Waiting tricks us into believing we are late to the party when indeed we are where we are choosing to be. We are often waiting because there is something the Lord may be working on in us. In those moments we must remember that God never delays the waiting process, we do.

Being Patient Through The Storm

Let me tell you a story, one that I’ve told many times because it’s an intricate part to my story. In December of 2018, I suffered a miscarriage. Our baby boy at just 15 weeks was taken right into glory with the Father and to say I was devastated would be a huge understatement. Jude, our baby boy, was going to be our fifth child and our last child. Before my husband and I got married, we both agreed that we wanted to have five children. Jude was what I thought was going to be the end of that “be fruitful and multiply” season of our lives, but little did I know, it was just the beginning in many ways.

One of the questions I constantly asked myself was, why me? God had a purpose in all of it. As I grieved and began to heal, I found myself in a season of waiting.

I thought that I would have been eager to try for another baby right away yet I found myself waiting. To be honest, at first I didn’t know why I was waiting. At least some of you reading this know why you’re waiting and what you’re waiting for. I on the other hand had no clue. All I knew was that we needed to wait, I had to wait. Waiting is not something I’m good at. My husband could testify on that all day every day. Once I know what I want, I’m eager to get it, put it together, style it, and make it fit into my world as quickly as possible. The journey I went on after our miscarriage really ironed out some of that impatience. I’m a work in progress ya’ll, thank God for grace.

Since then, I’ve experienced the beauty in the wait. The beauty in the unknown and being okay with not knowing. I’ve come to terms with staying where I am till God says it’s time. God is at work in our waiting. We may not see it, but He’s behind the scenes working on our behalf. I even went so far into embracing the wait that we waited until birth to find out the gender of our gorgeous rainbow baby, Eden, which was a total shock for not just us but all of our friends and families.

When I think of waiting, the first story that comes to mind is Sarah. Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years to receive their promise. Now granted, did Sarah get impatient and hop the ball a bit to try to speed things along , yes. But despite that, God still fulfilled what He said He would. Do you believe God enough that you would be willing to wait 25 years? I know, gut check right? But if that was as long as it would take, not only would it be worth it, it would be as God ordained it.

We’ve got to get to a place where we are more concerned about God’s timing than our own. Are we wrong for desiring a spouse, a child, or a job, absolutely not. God Himself placed those desires in us and He knows exactly when we are going to receive them. In our waiting, God is waiting also. He doesn’t release things prematurely and surely wouldn’t give us something or someone we aren’t ready to handle.

God is in the waiting. He was there at the beginning and will certainly be with us till our ends. If you find yourself waiting longer than you thought, you must ask the Holy Spirit. Is this necessary for my success or am I delaying what God has waiting for me? The Holy Spirit is so good in answering our call and helping us along in our journey. Whatever your story looks like, know that in the end, it’s worth the wait.