I’ve stared at my phone, thinking I could will it to ring.
I’ve wondered if my friend was ever going to understand what I meant to say.
I’ve spent years trying to get pregnant only to realize that wasn’t God’s plan for us.
I’ve journeyed through two adoption processes that were full of anticipation and waited unsuccessfully for others that never worked out.
Waiting has been a theme in my life – and I’m guessing it’s no stranger to yours. I’ve waited and gotten something better than I anticipated. I’ve waited and what I hoped for never came.
Regardless of the outcome, God works in the wait.
Waiting is hard, yet it is something we all do. Every day, many times a day, really.
We wait for lights to turn green. We wait for people to return calls and extend invitations. We wait for the mail to be delivered. We wait for dinner to be ready and bedtime to come. We wait for the next season and the next adventure. We wait for babies to be born, job promotions to come, sickness to pass, people to understand what we meant, the necessary finances to come.
We wait.
Waiting was a theme in God making a momma. My husband and I tried for two years to become pregnant. The waiting broke my heart, but I have since learned I didn’t approach that season in the way God intended.
I waited for a positive pregnancy test like I was wasting my time yet God was busy orchestrating an adoption story. We held our daughter in our arms seven months after we stopped trying to get pregnant. But in those years of trying, I didn’t draw near to God or seek out truth in the moment.
I didn’t worship and live while I waited. Waiting consumed me.
God has since taught me about purpose in waiting.
{Read the rest of this post at Circles of Faith, where I’m happy to be a regular contributor.}
I’m linking up with the weekly Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood Gathering that my friend Jen Feruson hosts. It’s a come-as-you-are kind of online party as well as Holley Gerth’s Coffee for Your Heart and Jennifer Dukes Lee’s #TellHisStory.
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Love this, Kristin. Because, oh the waiting that speaks to all of us! I think there is SO much to learn about a huge purpose he has in these times. And the line "waiting was a theme in God making a momma" – YES, girl. Yes.
Praise God for orchestrating such a good and perfect gift from above. (And I am horrible at waiting … 😉 It's something the Lord has been working on in me for a long time!) Visiting from #TellHisStory … Blessings to you!
Yes, it's something I've learned over time … a long time. 🙂 Thanks for visiting, Kate!
God's time is good, though, even if it's hard to see while waiting for what we want! I'm glad I'm not alone on this one. Thanks for coming by, Ginger!
Thanks for the great reminder on waiting, Kristin. It's a lesson I sometimes need to learn over and over again.
Me too, Nancy. I'm glad you were encouraged. Thanks for reading!
Waiting truly breaks us down and humbles us…reminding us with each tick of the clock that we are not in control. A painful message I need …over and over again. Thanks for sharing your honest struggles and your story. It was a blessing, as always, to stop by here.
Thanks for your kind words, Karen. We are not in control – a lesson I'm finding myself always learning.
Kristin, I too am not one to embrace my place during the wait. I become consumed with watching the clock…every ticking hour in hope that in that next minute I will have the answer I so crave. I've been in a waiting process for the last several years in regard to something much different, but I look back and see that this post could've easily been written about me. Thank you for the reminder that I can't forget to live, to pray, to praise Him in these days…as I wait.
I'm glad you were able to be encouraged as you wait. Hoping God continues to bless your journey, Jennifer. Thanks for stopping by here.
I'm waiting now, for something I've prayed over for 16 years. My prayers are different now. They are more bold and they ask the Lord to show my HIS ways over my own. For that I am thankful. God wants to do so much in the waiting that we tend to miss when we try to figure it out. Last night I heard Steven Curtis Chapman's new song while really listening to the lyrics. It's called "Glorious Unfolding". The VEVO video has the words. It is SO GOOD. His glorious unfolding is coming for all of us!
I love, love, love that Glorious Unfolding song! It speaks to this truth so very well and reminds me there is so much more to come and it'll be more than we can even grasp. I just prayed for you, Jolene. Thanks for sharing a piece of your heart here.