“Wait.”
I really don’t like that word…
It seems as though we are always in some sort of season of waiting. Is it the same for you? Maybe you’re waiting to graduate from college. Or waiting to get married. Or awaiting the arrival of your first child.
Maybe you’re waiting to get pregnant or waiting on a loved one who doesn’t have much longer on this earth.
Some seasons of waiting are exciting while others are difficult.
When Peter was in the military, we went through lots of periods of waiting.
Waiting for orders for our next assignment.
Waiting to sell a house.
Waiting for the dreaded deployment to arrive.
Waiting for the deployment to be over.
Waiting for retirement.
And even now, the waiting continues.
Waiting on Peter to graduate from school.
Waiting on him to find a job.
Waiting on our house to be built.
Waiting to travel to India to bring our daughter home.
So much waiting.
But even as we are currently in a season of waiting on many things, I can look back and see God’s Providence in past times of waiting. I can see His wisdom for the waiting.
Many of you know that our worship leader left last summer to take a job at another church. And you know that I had big feelings because I wrote extensively about it. Our church campus waited months and months with anticipation. We witnessed many potential worship leaders come through, some which seemed to be the perfect fit, yet they weren’t chosen for the job.
Many in our friend group became discouraged with the process, Peter and I included. It seemed as though the “right guy” kept slipping through our fingers and we wondered who was going to be our full time leader.
(Don’t get me wrong – one of our members stepped up to lead us for months and he was great! He has a huge heart for worship and we were all grateful for his willingness to step in. And thankfully he is still part of the worship team today.)
But we needed a full time worship leader. Someone who could invigorate our campus, giving us new life.
In March, after over 6 months of waiting, our pastoral staff finally brought in a worship leader for our campus. And as an added bonus, not only is he our worship leader, he is also our campus pastor. Peter and I have gotten the chance to know him a little and we are excited about all the things on the horizon for our campus. We can see his heart and his enthusiasm, his love for the Lord. I think it’s just what our church needed.
The Lord answered all of those prayers I had lifted to Him during those many months. God was walking our church through that season of desolation and confusion, answering our cries even as we thought no one was listening.
He has given me peace where before, there was fear. He has provided a leader who is energized and excited about all the possibilities at our church.
But the Lord also answered prayers that we couldn’t have even imagined. Prayers we didn’t even know to ask. I love it when that happens!
I was talking with a friend the other day about the changes coming to our church campus and she reminded me that “we prayed for revival for our church and I think this is the start.” I couldn’t agree more.
So, if you are in a season of waiting (and don’t get me wrong, this lesson is for me too), trust in God’s timing. It’s always better than ours. His plan is always better than ours, too.
Yes, those waiting times can be so hard. We had one earlier this year. It wasn’t what we would have chosen, but God showed up in so many incredible ways for us, too!