Wait And Seeনমুনা

When the Wait Begins

Meet Ashley, Samantha, Dianna, and my husband Scott. These are real people who waited on God. As we journey together, you will see how each individual applied the principles of waiting well.

When she was thirty years old, Ashley sensed God leading her to teach women stories and guidelines from the Bible. Thinking she had it all figured out and certain of God’s desire for her life, Ashley jumped right in to preparing her Bible study class at church. She organized her materials, started the sign-up process, and counted on God to fill her classroom. Only one woman joined, and she later withdrew because of a scheduling conflict. Did Ashley hear God wrong?

God shows you His design for your life. He whets your appetite for all He has planned. Excitement overwhelms you as you sit on the edge of your seat. Then you wait.

Ashley waited.

In her early twenties, Samantha began to seriously ponder if it was the Lord’s will for her to be married. She felt Him give her a green light, so she prayed daily for her marriage and her husband—even though she didn’t yet know him. She studied scriptures on marriage and about being a wife, and she gleaned wisdom from many married women. Year after year, Samantha continued hoping for a husband, trusting that her desires to marry were from the Lord. Yet year after year, she remained single.

God tucks a dream deep in your heart. You believe Him for the completion of this dream. You patiently do all the “right” things. Then you wait.

Samantha waited.

Dianna felt the call to full-time ministry. With her husband’s job secure, she walked away from a $75,000-a-year career to pursue her calling. Her yes to God was followed by the 2008 market crash, which devastated her family. Her husband, a builder of custom homes, lost his job. Losing their own home was just the start of some tough years of waiting and rebuilding. During the family’s five moves, including a two-month stay in a hotel, Dianna contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Things looked hopeful when the family found a wonderful home to rent—only to receive an eviction notice because the landlord had not paid the mortgage. Facing homelessness again, a disease, no health insurance, and no job, Dianna felt betrayed, helpless, abandoned, and hopeless.

The timing seems right. You step out in faith and say yes to God, then you lose your home and health.

Dianna waited.

Scott stood six foot three—a strong, healthy man. He and I were busy doing life and raising our two children. Everything seemed picture perfect for our family. Without warning, the picture became blurred, literally, when the vision in Scott’s left eye began to fail. He went from one specialist to another. Each doctor ordered new tests and, with the best intentions, prescribed new treatments. We prayed for healing. Our church family rallied around us and prayed. I invited my blog friends to pray. We had people all over the world asking God to heal Scott’s eye. Yet after eighteen months, there was still no definitive diagnosis or change in Scott’s condition.

You pray. You anoint with oil. You pray some more. Then you wait.

We waited.

Do you see yourself somewhere between the lines of these waiting stories? Maybe you are praying for a husband or waiting for God’s plan for your life to come to fruition. Perhaps your life has fallen into place just as God revealed but something or someone is blocking the way toward what you really hope for. So you wait, hope, believe, and yet sometimes second-guess the plan.