Thankful While the Clock Ticks

Sometimes it’s difficult being a writer and knowing just how vulnerable to be, especially when I want God to use what I am going through to encourage and inspire others. But how can I do that if I am hiding behind a façade or if I wait until God fulfills His promises to me before sharing the journey? If I did that, then I wouldn’t be allowing God to use all of me.

I am currently at week 10 of the 12 week no weight bearing period. Two blog posts ago I shared how I was very content right where God had me in this healing process. I have been awed by the incredible peace that He has given to me in this season, but I will admit, the last few weeks have been harder. While thankfully I am still just as content overall, I am getting anxious and weary of all the little things in between – things like my extreme lack of independence, constantly putting my parents out and the physical struggle and compromise of my body during this interim. But I can’t change my circumstances; healing takes time. I just have to wait until the allotted time to heal is over. I just have to wait…some more.

It’s no secret that life is made up of waiting. Waiting while the clock ticks, all the while echoing, “…still NOTHING”. Some of us have been waiting for years. Genesis 41:1 starts out, “When two full years had passed…”, but the original Hebrew language expresses Joseph’s perspective of the length of time much better by saying, “When two years of days had passed…” (emphasis mine). So how many “years of days” have you been waiting for your prayers to be answered or for God’s promises to be fulfilled or for your dreams to be realized?

I remember when God first spoke two specific promises to me, I felt pregnant, carrying the seeds of my longings. At that time, I didn’t care how long I’d have to wait for those promises to be birthed, I had such peace, excitement and resolve knowing that they would be mine someday, and that was enough. But now I’ve waited eight “years of days” and my heart longs for the day when I will finally hold my promises rather than carry them in my womb.  But I trust in you, Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands; Psalm 31:14-15

We usually think of waiting as passive; just sitting and doing nothing until the allotted time has passed, however, years ago God gave me a different perspective of waiting. He began to show me all that there is to waiting on Him and His promises and suddenly I went from ‘inactive waiting’ to ‘active preparing’. The shift in my perspective helped me to better understand why God makes us wait…

• Time purifies our desires.
• Waiting is the process by which we learn trust and endurance.
• Our faith and relationship with Jesus are strengthened as we spend time praying and waiting on Him.
• God uses the time to build us into who we will need to be in order to hold our promises properly.

When we allow ourselves to be controlled by our emotions instead of by God we become discouraged and impatient. Hebrews 11:27 says that Moses “persevered because he saw him who is invisible”. In order to not give up or give in and compromise we must keep our eyes focused on God. He is faithful, whether we understand His ways or not. He is not against us when He makes us wait…He is for us. When nothing seems to be happening in the natural, God is orchestrating and aligning circumstances that we know nothing about in order to fulfill His perfect plan for us. So rather than resenting this time of waiting, let’s be thankful that the God of the universe is moving heaven and earth on our behalf!

“The Lord works out everything to its proper end.” Proverbs 16:4