Waiting
What is your worst quality?
We've all been asked this question before. While lots of people struggle to come up with an answer, I have always been able to provide one in almost an instant. As a child, I dreaded nap time for the sole reason of having to "sleep" for 30 minutes before I could finally go home. In middle school, my science teacher always commented on my desire to get things done as quickly as possible. And currently, it seems like I am trying to rush my high school years just so I can go ahead and get started on the exciting life I have planned.
What quality am I talking about?
Waiting.
Up until a few months ago, I didn't think my lack of patience was necessarily a bad quality. I just described my difficulties with waiting as a pet peeve. But then for the first time in years life started getting hard. I was stressed, I was overwhelmed, and I was uncertain, all of which terrified me.
This new season I was entering made me uncomfortable. Instead of trusting God during the journey, I did everything in my power to rush it. I wanted to end this season. My efforts in trying to speed things up for God only made the situation worse for me. Grieving somehow turned into anxiety, rough breakups turned into extreme uncertainty, and new changes turned into fear.
I'm so glad that season has passed. However, I'm also glad I went through it. God has a purpose for everything. Little did I know that I needed to be afraid and uncomfortable to strengthen my faith. I needed adversity to build my character. I needed uncertainty to redirect my life in the direction God wanted me in. I could have had that realization months sooner if only I had trusted in God and just waited on His breakthrough.
I know I'm not the only one who has struggled with this. I'm sure you too have had moments throughout your life when you were impatient. We're human after all. But there is actually this one really famous couple who struggled with the exact same thing. Abram and Sarai. For those who are not familiar with the story, I'll sum it up in a few sentences (But I highly encourage you to go check it out in Genesis's *wink wink*). God promised them that they were going to have decedents as numerous as the stars. Obviously, this was exciting for Abram and Sarai. So exciting that they got a little impatient waiting on God. Long story short, Sarai was having difficulties conceiving. Instead of trusting in Gods promise to follow through, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Instead of waiting patiently for God, she suggested to her husband to go sleep with her servant, that way Abram could continue the genealogy. He agreed and slept with a women whom he was not married to (Yes, they were more than a little illogical and crazy, but that is another blog post in itself). Abram had a child with another women.
This created a series of problems that could have been avoided if they had just waited . There was tension. There was awkwardness. There was jealousy. There were a lot of things that could have been prevented.
Even with their mistakes, God still proved to them that His promises are worth waiting for and nothing can prevent them from not happening. When Sarai was 90, and Abram 100, they had a child. Not even old age served as an impediment. With God, all things are possible.
Okay, so moral of the story? Don't let impatience cause you to compromise. Don't let impatience cause you to settle for less than what God wants for you, because He wants the best for you. Learn to trust that God will make things alright again. Learn to trust that He has a perfect plan just for you.
Be patient. God has something amazing planned for you. All you need to do is wait and enjoy the blessings of the moment.
With much love,
M.
