Growing up, I always heard adults say “don’t pray for patience, because you just might get it.” In the present those words ring all too clear.
Learning patience has been one of the hardest lessons I have had to learn, and sometimes I find myself having to relearn depending on the circumstance.
Like the widely known Bible verse states, “hope deferred makes the heart sick.” I don’t know about you all, but giving myself permission to hope can be a scary thing. The chance that things may not turn out the way I expected can cause me to fear relinquishing myself to hope.
When we actually take the chance to hope and things take longer than we anticipated, many of us interpret that to mean it wasn’t meant to be. The more our desires evade us, the sicker our hearts become.
We begin to speak negatively to ourselves and even feel a little embarrassed that we decided to hope. If you want to go a little deeper, you might even be upset with God because He didn’t come through for you in your timeframe. (Okay, maybe it’s just me.) However, I believe a lot of us give up on our breakthrough because the wait is too long.
God will come through for us, but it will be in His timing.
Before we were formed in our mother’s wombs, he knew us. Therefore, He knows when we are ready to handle the things we are asking Him for.
I believe that if our desires are in God’s will for our lives, He will bring them to pass in HIS appointed time.
Every good thing we desire is worth waiting well for, and this means resisting the urge to complain and engage in self pity.
We must give ourselves room to develop into the mature version of ourselves; capable of handling the blessing. There is a time and a season for everything under the sun.
Receiving something too early could cause us to mishandle the blessing. Waiting builds something in us. We become someone better than we were at the beginning, and are able to inspire others experiencing the difficulties of the wait.
Jacob and Sarah’s story has always inspired me during any waiting season I encountered. Both of them desired a child, and God promised to bless them with a son in their old age. However, this promise took twenty-five years to manifest.
Can you imagine waiting that long for God to move in your life? I take solace in the fact that although Jacob and Sarah made mistakes during their waiting season, God still blessed them. In fact, Abraham had a son with Sarah’s handmaid Hagar, because “God was taking too long.” (Now, this doesn’t give us the excuse to make lots of mistakes, remember the goal is to wait well.) Despite the odds, Sarah gave birth to her promised child, Isaac, at the ripe age of 90 years old.
We can’t allow ourselves to get caught up in the statistics, the odds stacked against us, our time table, or how/when someone else received their promise. If God has promised you something, He has set it up for an appointed time and it will not prove false.
As stated above in Habakkuk, “though it linger, wait for it . . . it will certainly come and will not delay.” We may perceive it as delayed, but when we receive it, we will see that it was right on time.
If I haven’t made it abundantly clear, waiting is hard. My twenties, while they have been amazing, have been accumulated of one waiting season after another. However, I am learning to wait well. Waiting well for me looks like this:
Morning Devotion (I have mentioned how important this is in previous posts! It is essential in your spiritual growth).
• Journaling
• Reminding myself of the ways God has blessed me
• Looking at how blessed I am to have the family and friends He gave me
• Looking towards the future expectantly
• Reflecting on how much I have grown through the waiting process
• Being productive
• Practicing self care
• Thanking God in advance for bringing everything to pass in HIS Time
My friends and I continue to be champions for each other during our individual waiting seasons. When waiting gets hard, we assure one another that breakthrough is coming.
I have seen God bring people I love and admire the desires of their hearts, and He will do the same for you if you don’t quit.
Currently, we as a world are experiencing a collective waiting season. We are all adjusting to the new normal, and none of us know when this particular season will end. Some of us are waiting well, while others are truly struggling with the realization that things may take longer to reconcile. We are all waiting for the global pandemic to finally come to an end so we can resume our lives.
I am praying for those who are struggling mentally, emotionally, financially, and physically during this time. I pray that God grants us all peace and healing during this season. We will get through this.
When waiting gets hard, I challenge you to look around at your life. There are blessings surrounding you. You are alive, you’re breathing. Please, don’t quit the wait. I know it’s hard, but you will come through on the other side. Wait well, keep pursuing God, and grow. I promise you it will come to pass in His timing and it will not delay.
I love you all, and I hope you have an amazing week!
You can connect with Ashley on her:
If you enjoyed Ashley’s post click here to read more