Tell me if you’ve ever felt this way.
I’m tired of waiting. I’m tired of being told to wait. To be patient. That it’ll happen in the right time. I’m always waiting on someone else who consequently doesn’t have me on their “Top 10 Most Important Things To Do” list.
Nope. I’m on the bottom of the list. On a piece of post-it buried under a pile of papers. In file 13 – where all the miscellaneous papers you don’t know what to do with goes.
And then when I call to check-in, you tell me I have to redo my application for the 2nd time because you can’t find the first.
Ever feel that way? Like you’re last on everyone’s priority list? Even worse, like you’re last on God’s list?
When all those 20-something girls would woefully cry about singleness, I would secretly scoff. I wanted to say “Suck it up, buttercup! When you’re almost 40 you can start whining.”
I was almost 38 when I got married. I wish I could say that was my last frontier in the waiting saga. In fact, waiting is what I seem to do most in life. Or so it seems. For EVERYTHING. I think I’m working on a Ph.D in waiting…so I can be a professional Waiter. Or something like that.
What do you do when you’re tired of waiting?
Focus on Others
I was having a rough day, and could barely focus my mind on the work in front of me. I can’t remember what my hang up was, but it was sucking my mental and emotional energy. Suddenly some bird drama outside caught my attention and distracted me. Baby birds were struggling to survive after falling from their nest – surrounded by birds of prey – and their frantic parents. The rescue mission totally sucked me in. Before I knew it hours had passed and I had completely forgotten about my own pain.
It dawned on me – in a fresh way – that focusing on helping others was a great way to get out of the pity party I was trying to throw for myself. Co-founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network, Jan Crouch used to tell the story how God delivered her from depression through a dream. But it first started by her ministering to a broken woman at a church altar.
There’s something about seeing the problems of others that helps you gain perspective on your own issues. When you can take it a step further and do something to alleviate their trouble, that joy will help free your heart as well.
Give it to God
I know! I see the collective eyes rolling. We all say we give it to God, but we like to take it back to dwell and stew over it. And I wish I could say that there was a final time of total surrender. I do recall the white flag of “I’m done” when it came to bemoaning singleness. Maybe it needs to happen a few times. God is not up in heaven sighing heavily and muttering “Yeah, you gave that to me last week”.
When you really let it go it’s freeing. A heavy burden lifts. And the next time you find the weight creeping back it gets easier to give it back again. You don’t want to hold onto it for as long any more.
And you know what? His grace really is sufficient.
Gain a Kingdom Perspective
There’s an interesting couple of verses found in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, but it is summed up in 3-4:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
Here Paul is saying the God of all comfort is comforting him in his troubles so that he can comfort others in the same predicament with the same comfort that he felt. That’s a lot of comfort so bear with me.
Sometimes it helps to know that if you can endure your period of waiting you’ll be able to comfort others who are also waiting that come after you. This is the whole reason for my blog – if I’m able to say “me too” and share what I’m learning in the process, maybe others will be encouraged to fight the good fight of faith with me. It’s a good fight because it’s one that we can win if we don’t quit.
Perfect Work Takes Time
Waiting sucks. Whether it’s at the doctors office, for a spouse or for a difficult season to pass. But when we learn to give it to God, focus on others and develop a Kingdom perspective to counter those times, it helps to make actually going through those waiting seasons not so bad. I’m not even going to lie – sometimes you need to be reminded of this over and over and over again. I’m not writing this article because I have waiting patiently mastered. It’s a reminder to myself – and you, if you’ll have it – to remember to let patience have its perfect work so that we can be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:4).
The sum of the matter is that it forms something in us that makes us more like Christ. He waited 33 years before he started His ministry. But He also waited since the Garden of Eden to make His appearance – in, what the Bible calls, “the fullness of time”. I wish I could explain it. It is obviously a work of the Holy Spirit. Enduring the waiting period creates the fruit of the Spirit that is God-honoring. So many times, while going through difficult periods, I try to focus on what God is forming in me. It helps to know that the waiting is not in vain, that like a lump of coal, a precious diamond will emerge if we let time and God have it’s way.
