The Waiting Season

So I decided last week that I'm in a waiting season. I thought about blogging about this earlier, but decided not to. I think I'm scared that if I actually acknowledge it publicly, it will somehow make the waiting season even longer, which is ridiculous!! I just don't want to admit it to myself!

In a lot of my devotionals recently the theme has been about waiting for God, and using the time of waiting to get to know Him more, to spend more time in His Word, and to let Him shape me.

I just looked at Elisabeth Elliott's devotion for today, which of course is titled, "Waiting". God's not letting me avoid this one. He's making sure I get the message LOUD AND CLEAR!

I can't seem to find the archives for Elisabeth's devotions, so I'm copying the bits that particularly spoke to me as I read her thoughts on waiting:

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord" (Psalm 27:14, NIV).

Waiting requires patience--a willingness calmly to accept what we have or have not, where we are or where we wish we were, whomever we live or work with.

To want what we don't have is impatience, for one thing, and it is to mistrust God. Is He not in complete control of all circumstances, events, and conditions? If some are beyond His control, He is not God.

Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands. "Peace I leave with you; I do not give to you as the world gives" (John 14:27, NEB). What sort of peace has He to give us? A peace which was constant in the midst of ceaseless work (with few visible results), frequent interruptions, impatient demands, few physical comforts; a peace which was not destroyed by the arguments, the faithlessness, and hatred of the people. Jesus had perfect confidence in His Father, whose will He had come to accomplish. Nothing touched Him without His Father's permission. Nothing touches me without my Father's permission. Can I not then wait patiently? He will show the way.

His message to me every day
Is wait, be still, trust, and obey.

Wait patiently for the Lord. He will turn to you and hear your cry. It is amazing how clear things become when we are still before Him, not complaining, not insisting on quick answers, only seeking to hear His word in the stillness, and to see things in His light.