Shirley
The privilege of waiting
It is an utter privilege and honour to wait with and on God!
Anyone who has ever been in a prolonged waiting season will tell you that waiting is difficult. It is excruciating, it will unravel you and force you to face your own humanity and its many limitations. It can destroy you because in many instances it will force you to have to come to terms with the possibility of a life without the thing that you are waiting for, and the grief of this can be catastrophic because often times when you look around it will seem like everyone else is receiving but you. For me the waiting has been about being a wife and mother. The grief has been unimaginable, it has come in waves and has been amplified with every age I have crossed into after turning 31, and it has gotten heavier as I have gotten older. However, the same waiting that can tear you down, is the same waiting that can help build you up to be the best version of yourself, but only if you allow God into your waiting, and I am a testament to that! Yes, grief and extreme hopefulness can exist in the same moment.
For someone else the waiting may be about a promotion, employment, marriage, higher learning, a child, healing, forgiveness, wealth etc. The truth is that all of us will wait or have something we are waiting for in every season of our lives. That is just part and parcel of the human experience. For me I have waited for many things in my life but the thing that has been most consistent in every season has been waiting to be a mother and a wife. The interesting part about this one area of my life is that I know without a doubt or have always known that I was born to be a wife and mother. I am a wife and mother. I have always been one. I have moved on this earth as one. I have always had a knowing about being a wife and mother that I cannot explain or put into words. I can identify with it yet I have never seen its manifestation physically or even gotten close to it. I have strategised, plotted, and prayed about it, but it has never happened tangibly except for my spiritual knowing. So yes, I have gone through many disappointments, doubt and have been tired and wary in this one area, but whenever I remember the God I serve, the God of Abraham and Sarah, I come to. I remember that He is the one who created me, and predestined me, and that He has a specific plan for my life. So, I hold on in faith that I will be a mother and a wife. Afterall, I have always been a mother and a wife. I was born when I was already a mother and a wife even before my mother felt me in her womb, and I will never doubt that.
The waiting though has been long and persistence. Nonetheless, it has not been in vain or for naught. In the time that I have had to wait which is over 10 years, I have learnt how wonderful and how much of a privilege it is to wait, it has taught me empathy and given me the most outrageously magical lens with which to view my life. In the waiting I have come to see God in ways that I would never have known if I never had this prolonged and unrelenting season of waiting. He has been my everything. It has not been an easy journey, but when I look back, I can see Him. God has been so kind and gentle with me. He has been my father, friend, companion, therapist, encourager, protector, redeemer, healer, father, confidant, coach, comforter, teacher, and mentor. He has laughed with me, cried with me, encouraged me, disciplined me. He is my lover, healer, stylist, hair and beauty consultant, finacial adviser, nutritionist, fitness and health coach, career coach, provider in every way even in providing me with community, my muse and creative inspiration and the list goes on and on. He has been my everything, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that He is enough, and if I never become a wife or a mother, I am whole, and I will be just fine because I have Him.
I choose to be an extreme optimist. I choose to stand on my faith. I chose to live by faith that if God said it will happen, then yes it will happen, and that if it does not happen like or in the manner that I imagined that it will be even greater!
So, yes, I reiterate and shout it to the mountain tops, it is difficult, but also wonderful to wait on the Lord. How precious it is to be trusted with the privilege and honour to suffer, to wait with and on Christ. To see Him with every unveiling of ‘not yet’ and to find Him as consitently enough . How glorious it is to know that God is the only one who holds the key, and that at the appointed time the door which has always seemed impregnable will be torn down and He will restore every tear, pain, fear, doubt, and every humiliation suffered as a result of waiting. And that every day you felt forgotten, He will give you double for your trouble and elevate you that much higher.
Yes, how wonderful it is to be chosen to wait. To have access to God in a way you would never have known possible if you had never waited. To know for sure without a doubt that He is indeed enough because you waited.
Yes, my God was and will always be enough!
Picture from : www.freepik.com(no author attributed)
Bible verses on waiting on the Lord
Isaiah 64:4
Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
Isaiah 25:1
LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.
Habakkuk 2:2-3
And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Psalm 25:3-5
Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause. Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.
Romans 12:12
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
Psalm 37:25-26
I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing.
Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Psalm 145:13-16
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all He promises and faithful in all He does. The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Psalm 130:5
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word, I put my hope.
Joshua 21:45
Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.
Isaiah 49:13-15
Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains!
For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”
Micah 7:7
But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
James 5:7-8
Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.
Proverbs 8:33-35
Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not disregard it. Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For those who find me find life and receive favour from the Lord.
Isaiah 26:8
Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.
Psalm 40: 1
I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.
Romans 8:24-26
For in this hope, we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
Psalm 38:15
Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.
Psalm 5:3
In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly
Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Isaiah 64:4
Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.
Psalm 33:20
We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
Psalm 37:7
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Psalm 119:166
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Isaiah 30:18
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore, he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
Hosea 12:6
But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.
Isaiah 25:9
And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
Lamentations 3:25
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
Psalm 130:5-6
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word, I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
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.”
Psalm 46:10
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 130: 5-8
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word, I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Israel, put your hope in the LORD, or with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.