Waiting by the Brook: Learning to Wait Patiently on GodSýnishorn

Ending or Beginning?

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19, KJV

If you currently find yourself facing a brook experience, stop for a moment and ask yourself: “Is the spot where I currently find myself the end of a thing or the beginning of something even better?” Are you waiting by the brook, or are you beginning to climb the mountain? Well, it all depends on how you choose to define the wait.

Several years ago, I felt God’s Spirit directing me to apply for a senior administrative position at a university. I was less than fully convinced that this position was really for me, but I heard His voice saying clearly, “This position is for you!” So, I applied. Then I made it to the shortlist of five and then to the short-short list of two. Hesitant though we were, my husband and I committed the entire process to God’s will. I said, “God, if you keep opening the doors, I am just going to keep walking through. But then, just as I was about to pull the handle and walk through, the door slammed shut! I did not get the job.

I was crushed and puzzled about why God had allowed me to go through this ordeal. However, as I expressed my frustration to my husband one day, he said to me wisely. “Kathy, what if it was not about getting that job at all? What if God was teaching you to enlarge the vision that you had for your life?” Wow! That thought made me pause. Certainly, before this experience, I had locked myself into the confining script of a “college professor.” What if God had allowed me to come to this ending so I could begin to embrace His much larger vision for my life?

Each brook experience is different, and though my closed door may be very different from yours, how we experience our waiting period depends on how we choose to label it. For believers, the labeling is actually quite simple. God has already given the label: it is a new thing! It is a beginning! If we can make this paradigm shift in our thinking, we will see brook experiences for what they are —gifted time to prepare us for the Mount Carmel experiences that are coming. A brook experience can mark the end of a dream or the birthplace of new aspirations.

Reflect: How can you reframe your perspective about a past or current waiting experience to view it not as an ending but as a beginning? What new thing is God getting ready to do in your life?