What Are You Waiting For?

Probably every one of us can think of a time in our life that involved a difficult season of waiting. Maybe you have been waiting to find that special person, get a new job, a bigger house, or you could be waiting for the test results to come back.

Or quite possibly, it’s simply waiting for direction on what to do next. 

My husband and I know that wait very well.  For four years we felt the Lord calling us to do something drastic but couldn’t get clarification on what it was.  During that season, a friend of mine had asked me to help edit her first book as she was writing it. What God did during that time was so beautiful. He gave me a step by step guide on how to wait well.  As I read each chapter I gained wisdom and insight into our wait. 

I began to see things differently, look at our situation in a new light, and learned to focus my desires on the Lord instead of the “object of my wait”.  I’d love to share a little about that book with you and who better to give you the details than the author herself, my sweet friend Wendy Pope.

Meet Ashley, Samantha, Dianna, my husband, Scott, and David. These are real people who waited on God. As we journey together, you will see how each individual applied the principles of waiting well.

When she was thirty years old, Ashley sensed God leading her to teach women stories and guidelines from the Bible. Thinking she had it all figured out and certain of God’s desire for her life, Ashley jumped right in to preparing her Bible study class at church. She organized her materials, started the sign-up process, and counted on God to fill her classroom. Only one woman joined, and she later withdrew because of a scheduling conflict. Did Ashley hear God wrong?

God shows you His design for your life. He whets your appetite for all He has planned. Excitement overwhelms you as you sit on the edge of your seat. Then you wait.

Ashley waited.

In her early twenties, Samantha began to seriously ponder if it was the Lord’s will for her to be married. She felt Him give her a green light, so she prayed daily for her marriage and her husband—even though she didn’t yet know him. She studied scriptures on marriage and about being a wife, and she gleaned wisdom from many married women. Year after year, Samantha continued hoping for a husband, trusting that her desires to marry were from the Lord. Yet year after year, she remained single.

God tucks a dream deep in your heart. You believe Him for the completion of this dream. You patiently do all the “right” things. Then you wait.

Samantha waited.

Dianna felt the call to full-time ministry. With her husband’s job secure, she walked away from a $75,000-a-year career to pursue her calling. Her yes to God was followed by the 2008 market crash, which devastated her family. Her husband, a builder of custom homes, lost his job. Losing their own home was just the start of some tough years of waiting and rebuilding. During the family’s five moves, including a two-month stay in a hotel, Dianna contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Things looked hopeful when the family found a wonderful home to rent—only to receive an eviction notice because the landlord had not paid the mortgage. Facing homelessness again, a disease, no health insurance, and no job, Dianna felt betrayed, helpless, abandoned, and hopeless.

The timing seems right. You step out in faith and say yes to God, then you lose your home and health.

Dianna waited.

Scott stood six foot three—a strong, healthy man. He and I were busy doing life and raising our two children. Everything seemed picture perfect for our family. Without warning, the picture became blurred, literally, when the vision in Scott’s left eye began to fail. He went from one specialist to another. Each doctor ordered new tests and, with the best intentions, prescribed new treatments. We prayed for healing. Our church family rallied around us and prayed. I invited my blog friends to pray. We had people all over the world asking God to heal Scott’s eye. Yet after eighteen months, there was still no definitive diagnosis or change in Scott’s condition.

You pray. You anoint with oil. You pray some more. Then you wait.

We waited.

In Wait and See you will follow these real-life waiting stories as well the wait David endured from the pasture to the palace. David’s life will teach us to wait well as we:

Focus on the Person of our Faith rather than the object of our wait

Learn to experience God rather than just endure His delays

Look forward to the future while staying present in the present.

I can’t wait to meet you on the pages of Wait and See!

~Wendy

I’m also including a link to the book trailer:

https://youtu.be/v4WxT6P7oD0

In honor of Black Friday, I have a little surprise for you!  You can win this incredible gift pack which includes a copy of “Wait and See”, a whimsical beaded bookmark with butterfly charm, and a hand stamped “Don’t Rush the Wait” aluminum cuff bangle.

Simply leave a comment below and on Monday I will throw all the names into a hat and draw one. I will notify the winner by the end of the day.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope this encourages and helps you look at your wait differently.