Learning to Wait

I have a problem with being patient:  I'm not very good at it.

You'd think that after all the practice I've had trying to be patient, I'd be filled to overflowing with this fruit of the Spirit by now.

There are many times in my life where I have had to wait.... just trust Him, hold on, and wait.  Sometimes I held on for dear life, white-knuckled, by sheer faith.  Other times I quietly and blindly walked with Him, letting Him lead the way, carrying me when necessary.

Patience was cultivated as my husband and I waited nearly four years to be married; as we waited years for our children, who each ultimately arrived by the blessing of adoption; as we waited for God to show us the city where He wanted us to settle and put down roots; and now again, as we wait to sell our home in a struggling economy.

Things don't always happen the way that we plan, but it is so comforting to know that He is working everything for good, in His timing, when we continue to be faithful.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  ~ Romans 8:28

That's a promise worth holding on to, white knuckles and all.

Wait

by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . .

And the Master so gently said, "Wait."

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!

Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

"My future and all to which I relate

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?

I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,

Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:

I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,

As my Master replied again, "Wait."

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,

And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting... for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . .

and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.

You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.

You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint.

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me

When darkness and silence are all you can see.

"You'd never experience the fullness of love

When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of my comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight.

The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have, last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,

But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.

And though oft My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait."

Praying that we can all appreciate His most precious answer of all... to wait on Him.

May you feel His presence and be filled with Him as Pentecost approches this week.
    

        Warmly,






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