I think, if we are honest, we have all wondered what the secret is to waiting well.
Patience may be a virtue, but it is not one easily attained by any stretch of the imagination.
Ask any mother of toddlers or teenagers.
Waiting is hard! Sometimes is takes the patience of Job and not many of us have that kind of patience.
We are in the process of selling our house (or at least trying to). My husband and I both felt like we were being obedient to God by listing it now verses waiting till the spring. We’ve only sold two other houses and both sold within 4 days. The second house never even had the sign put in the yard! We are going on a month with this one and still we wait….
Ironically, before listing the house, I had begun reading the book Wait and See: Finding Peace in God’s Pauses and Plans by Wendy Pope. Phenomenal book! I checked it out of the library and before I finished the first chapter, I stopped reading it, put it back in the library basket and ordered my own copy from Amazon. I needed to be able to highlight and make notes in this book. As I said.Phenomenal!
I’m not finished with the book, but I have already gleaned so much from what I have read so far.
Waiting well looks forward to the future while staying present in the present.
Wait and See, pg. 24
Finding the contentment and joy in our current circumstances while looking forward to what God has planned for the future is a key component to waiting well. We can learn so much in the pauses if we are willing to seek what He is trying to teach us and be content in the learning.
Our ultimate goal is to focus on the Person of our faith more than the object of our wait.
Wait and See, pg. 27
When our focus is on God and not on what we are waiting for, we can experience that peace and contentment and joy we are so longing for.
I have allowed myself to feel discouragement and to question our decision to list our house because I have not kept my focus on the Person of my faith. I allowed the fact that things have not proceeded on my timeline to affect my outlook on the entire situation and to forget the call to obedience which led is in this direction in the first place.
The wait is more about experiencing God than enduring the delay.
Wait and See, pg. 32
Wow! Do you see why I needed my own book?! No matter if our house sales or doesn’t, this whole process is about experiencing God. Trusting Him in the waiting and learning more about who He really is.
Waiting well teaches us to trust His delays rather than doubt His ways.
Wait and See, pg. 38
God’s timing is perfect. He is never late, never early. My timing isn’t perfect and it never will be.
I have to trust that what I see as a delay is only the prelude to God’s perfect timing.
One thing I have learned so far in this process, is there is no real “secret” to waiting well. There is no 5 Step Plan. No secret “easy button” to push.
Waiting well requires spending time with God and getting to know Him in ways you have not experienced before. Waiting well requires a relationship built on trust, faith, and a willingness to learn.
Waiting well looks different for each one of us because each one of us has our own relationship with our Father. However, waiting well is all about that relationship.
Waiting well requires us to “focus on the Person of our faith more than the object of our wait.” (Wendy Pope)
So, in this pause focus on Him. He has so much to show us and we have so much to learn.
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