It's funny because it's true, right? It never seems like God is working fast enough - and some of fear that God has forgotten us. The result is a lot of worry, anxiety, frustration and doubt instead of experiencing the peace and blessing that God wants for us.
Today's Devotional Focus: How do we wait with peace and purpose while we're in a waiting season?
I'm sharing a behind-the-scenes story of how my career as an author began during my longest, hardest waiting season. I didn't start out waiting well. At all. But, over my decade long waiting room journey, God gave me lots of opportunities to learn patience and to trust His timing, which resulted in a precious unshakeable peace in my life. This is what I want for each one of you!
Let's get into it!
WAITING WELL PRINCIPLE #1: IF YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, THEN IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
Back in 2012, my then-spouse attended recovery meetings to help with his alcohol addiction. Even though I prayed and asked God to heal my spouse, I was not patient with the process. I spent hours each day obsessing about how to get him sober. I imagined all the things that would go wrong if God didn’t fix things. My anxiety was through the roof.
Then, a God-moment happened. One day, my father-in-law called to ask how things were going. I told him about the recovery meetings and how I really wanted my spouse to stop drinking so our lives could get back on track. But I didn’t have control over that. I think my impatience was coming through. My father-in-law replied: “You need to find something to do while he’s going to AA. Otherwise, you’ll get in the way and mess up what he’s trying to do in recovery.”
I believe that God used my father-in-law to help me see that, even though I was praying, everything in me wanted to push and meddle in a situation that was beyond my control. Turns out God used my waiting-room season to deal with me on that.
WAITING WELL PRINCIPLE #2: IN YOUR WAITING ROOM SEASON, GOD IS STILL WORKING ON YOU!
At first, I was offended that my father-in-law suggested that I’d interfere. He wasn’t wrong. But I was still offended. I wasn’t the one with a problem…or was I? No, I didn’t have an alcohol addiction, but my spouse’s struggle revealed my anxiety, my control-loving behaviors, my fear of letting go and trusting God.
God used a dormant dream to begin a new work in my heart.
Years before alcohol addiction entered my life, I’d written a novel. I put it in a drawer and went on with my life. After my father-in-law's call, I felt a little whisper to give writing a book another try. This time, a non-fiction book idea came to mind because I’d been speaking more to women’s groups at my church.
On January 1, 2013, I sat down to write my first book proposal. I was scared and intimidated. I also felt something else… excitement. I hadn’t been excited in a long time. I finally had something to focus on other than alcohol addiction. But God was also doing something in me that was deeper and even better than my book proposal.
I had to do a lot of Bible study to research my book concept. As I spent hours studying Scripture, God’s Word penetrated my heart and mind.
Hebrews 4:12 says that God’s Word is sharper than a two-edged sword, cutting through the hard places of our hearts and minds. That’s exactly what happened! Not only did I have something to work on that took me away from obsessing about when my spouse would sober up, but God’s Word attacked my anxious thoughts and took captive my fears for the future (
2 Corinthians 10:3-5). While my waiting hadn’t changed, I was more peaceful. I could also see that God hasn’t forgotten about me.
WAITING WELL PRINCIPLE #3: HONESTY + WORSHIP + SELF CARE = WAITING WELL
Even as God worked in my heart, I still had to learn to navigate the ups and downs of our family crisis. I’d wake up praying for God to do a miracle. I’d sit down for an amazing Bible study. Then, I’d spend the rest of the day living the reality of our circumstances.
During those years, I realized that I had to hold hope and heartache at the same time. That’s never easy. But if I wanted to wait well, I had to be vigilant about taking care of my heart, mind, and body.
At the end of today’s devotion, there’s a practical list of ideas that help you be honest, worship, and engage in self-care.
THE FINAL PART OF MY STORY
Months after finishing my book proposal in spring 2013, a series of God-moments led me to the July 2013 Proverbs 31 She Speaks Conference for aspiring speakers and authors. I had no idea what I was doing, but I felt like the Apostle Peter, stepping out of the boat to meet Jesus on the water. It was a scary step of faith, but I had peace because God had done so much work in my life during our crisis.
If you remember the beginning of this devotion, I was obsessed with figuring out how to get my husband sober. However, God intervened through my father-in-law’s call and a whole new faith journey opened up for me. As a bonus, God began opening a new future for me as well.
I pitched my book at the conference and received a contract for it in October 2013. Here’s the day that I signed my contract. Yes, it was about twenty hairstyles ago - ha!
