As I woke this morning, some of my first thoughts were with my two friends about to give birth any day now. Did either of them go into labor during the night? A quick glance at my phone and computer confirmed that they were both still pregnant.
Becky's little boy was due on Tuesday. She waits. Lynette has had some preterm labor with her twins...and is on bedrest. If they are able to make it another week or so, they shouldn't even require a stay in the NICU. She waits. Seemingly ready to explode, these two dear women are walking time bombs. I remember the feeling well.
I reflect on waiting. I am in a season of waiting as well. Waiting for my husband's deliverance from the back pain that has rocked his world (and ours). And I thought--well, at least they are waiting expectantly. The waiting will come to an end, and the reward will be more than worth the wait. And I envied that expectancy a little...
Then He gently spoke to my heart. "You can wait expectantly too. I am here. I haven't forgotten. My plan is in motion. My Big-G-Good plan." So in faith, I grab that expectancy, that even when there is temptation to despair--I know the Truth. We are not consumed. He who has begun a g(G)ood work in us will bring it to completion. Even now He is acting.
I remember a small book by Henri Nouwen about waiting I read during a scary time of my life. I don't remember much about it other than the important concept that waiting is active--not passive. Waiting takes energy, it takes focus, it takes faith. To actively wait on God is a choice. A choice to call to my mind God's goodness, as Jeremiah did in Lamentations 3: 21-23. (studied this in Bible Study this morning...)
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
great is your faithfulness.
I don't know what waiting season you might be in...but will you join me in choosing to actively wait on God, expectantly knowing that what comes from His love is Good?
5 comments:
Loved reading your thoughts today, Dawn, and the Scripture you shared. Very timely for me.
Be blessed!
xoxo
waiting is hard work... but in Him, we wait. and i know it will be good!
OH, Dawn, this hit me square in the face and I so appreciate your words. I know this, but just needed to be reminded. I'm in God's waiting room over an issue right now as well. It's a difficult place to be at times, but that's where He "grows" us. A beautiful weekend to you and I'm still hoping and praying that your husband will be delivered from that awful back pain.
Something that struck me a few weeks ago in Bible study was this:
Longing is inherent in waiting. The two are inseparable. Waiting without longing is just the passing of time. AND (this part made me cry) the LORD waits too. He knows our longing and He's longing too.
Waiting is often the most difficult thing to do, but so necessary. If farmers didn't wait on their crops to mature, we'd all be pretty much hungry. So necessary, to wait.
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