What Are You Waiting For?

Have you ever felt the winds of change stirring in your life, leaving you stressed or anxious about what comes next? I’ve been there. When this happens to me I often become stressed or anxious. The fear of not knowing what’s next can be consuming. In some ways I could say my life has been in a season of change for many years. I have experienced significant life changes; I went back to working a 9-5 after working for myself and staying home with my kids for a long period of time, I went through a divorce and entered the dating world after being married almost my whole adult life, and most recently I decided to restart my business while still working full time and managing a home and life as a single mother of three. Navigating all of this has been more challenging than I expected. Although my marriage was rocky, I have realized I did feel a sense of comfort knowing I had someone else to turn to in challenging times. The pressure of it all being on my shoulders can be overwhelming. 

Understanding Life’s Seasons

When I was younger, I heard someone say life is full of changes: seasons come and go, and though the good times won’t stay, the bad times won’t either. I always thought of life’s seasons being similar to weather seasons—a short, distinct period lasting maybe a few weeks or months. It wasn’t until I faced these past few years that I understood this statement. Through this I have learned that some seasons can last years and often we can be in multiple seasons at once. You might thrive in your career while struggling in your relationships, or find joy in motherhood while facing spiritual fatigue. We rarely experience life as all good or all bad.

Letting God Be the Guide

As I have continued to walk with the Lord, I do believe it has gotten easier to feel the Holy Spirit moving in my life. I have learned to see him at work around me. I can honestly say it has taken a lot of work for me to learn how to rest in his timing. 

I can see God aligning things around me. I can see that in certain areas where success came with ease, I am now struggling; but in other areas where I felt I could never get it right things are starting to fall into place. I can see this shift and I find myself getting anxious with the Lord. I am ready for what’s next. The Bible says to praise him in the hallway but I can literally picture myself walking in a hallway knocking on the doors wanting one to open. I know God is preparing me so I keep asking, “is it time yet?” God has shown me bits of the future and it’s exciting, but I know it’s not yet time to walk through that next door. Recently my anxiety had me asking him, “what about that door? Or maybe that one?”. I began to really stress about this. The fear of not fully knowing what’s next still gets to me from time to time. Have you ever gone shopping and nothing fits right but you end up buying something anyway only to get home and realize you’re never going to wear what you bought. You just bought it because it was the best option available in that store?  I feel like I have been doing this with my life choices. I know where I am doesn’t fit any more but rather than waiting for God to show me the right time and place to go I have been picking the best of what’s available now. Almost like I am trying to negotiate with God. 

What I have learned is when I finally get fed up trying to do it my way and nothing works I go to God and ask, “what do YOU want me to do?”. His reply this time was, “I already told you. Stop asking about all the other doors, those aren’t for you. I’m preparing you for the next door but it’s going to open slower than you think, just do as I have already told you.” I’m so thankful he knows I’m stubborn and hard headed. I could have saved myself a lot of time and frustration if I had just asked him this first but I’m still breaking my worldly processes and replacing them with Biblical practices. 

Encouragement in Scripture

Realizing I was going to need help with waiting I turned to Scripture for encouragement. It turns out the Bible has over 100 verses about waiting! I’m not sure why I was surprised by this; waiting on God is a huge part of our journey here on Earth. As I began reading, each verse had the same message, those who wait on the Lord will truly be blessed. Following his guidance will result in a much richer, happier, more abundant outcome than if we try to do it alone. Basically I learned this the hard way since I did it my way before I decided to turn to God, but what I learned from scripture and not from my own experience is that waiting doesn’t have to be a season of stress and anxiety. That’s something we do to ourselves. Anxiety can show you the areas we lack in faith. The Bible tells us that God wants us to trust that he is doing the work ahead of us so that we can be happy in the moment in front of us. God wants us to have peace in the wait.

Here are a few of the verses I found encouragement from below. I know waiting is something we all experience and hope you find encouragement in the Lord the same as I did.

• Isaiah 40:31 “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (ESV)
• Lamentations 3:25 “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” (ESV)
• Isaiah 30:18 “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” (ESV)
• Psalm 33:20-22 “Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”(ESV)
•  Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (NIV)

Although my experience is my own I know it is similar to many, this is why I share what I have gone through and what I learned. My hope is that my struggle will help others and possibly even prevent the struggle from lasting so long for others. My stubbornness caused certain difficult seasons to last way longer than necessary. Thankfully I am learning to turn to him quicker than before and making better decisions for myself. I experience peace and joy more now than ever since my understanding in how God works has grown and my faith has deepened.