Get the appLiving the Surrendered LifeSample
After being married about 18 months, my husband and I decided that we wanted to have a child. Once we made that decision, we figured that we’d be pregnant in no time. That was in 1994. Our first son was not born until 1999.
Those years of waiting, negative pregnancy tests, watching my girlfriends having their 1st, 2nd and 3rd children when I could not even get pregnant with one child were excruciating. It was a great desire in my heart to be a mom. Why did God make me wait so long? Better yet, why don’t some women ever get to become a mom?
During those arduous years, I didn’t know why I had to wait. However, since his arrival all those years ago, God has revealed to me over and over again that He is sovereign and I am not.
I believe that God developed some character traits in me during that season of life that otherwise might not have been developed. My intimacy with God is deeper than ever because He truly became everything to me. He knew every thought and feeling I had during this painful time. I wasn’t afraid to be real with Him and cast all of the hurts I had onto Him. After all, the Bible says in 1 Peter 5 to “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” I did just that. You can, too.
Exercising patience is not a lot of fun. I am fairly certain that I have never heard anyone say, “Man, I am so excited about what God is going to show me and how I’m going to change during this time of waiting. Woo hoo!” No, not so much. But, as I’ve talked with countless people over the years after their seasons of waiting, every single person has said that he/she wouldn’t trade the life lessons learned for the comfortable life they had before. You see, it’s in those days, months and years of waiting where we start to look a lot more like Christ. A good friend of mine describes patience as “waiting without complaining.”
I think we could all stand to stop complaining during the waiting. Join me!
Action Steps
Are you in a waiting room right now? How well are you waiting on God? The next time you begin to feel impatient, ask God, “What do you want me to learn from this?”
Those years of waiting, negative pregnancy tests, watching my girlfriends having their 1st, 2nd and 3rd children when I could not even get pregnant with one child were excruciating. It was a great desire in my heart to be a mom. Why did God make me wait so long? Better yet, why don’t some women ever get to become a mom?
During those arduous years, I didn’t know why I had to wait. However, since his arrival all those years ago, God has revealed to me over and over again that He is sovereign and I am not.
I believe that God developed some character traits in me during that season of life that otherwise might not have been developed. My intimacy with God is deeper than ever because He truly became everything to me. He knew every thought and feeling I had during this painful time. I wasn’t afraid to be real with Him and cast all of the hurts I had onto Him. After all, the Bible says in 1 Peter 5 to “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” I did just that. You can, too.
Exercising patience is not a lot of fun. I am fairly certain that I have never heard anyone say, “Man, I am so excited about what God is going to show me and how I’m going to change during this time of waiting. Woo hoo!” No, not so much. But, as I’ve talked with countless people over the years after their seasons of waiting, every single person has said that he/she wouldn’t trade the life lessons learned for the comfortable life they had before. You see, it’s in those days, months and years of waiting where we start to look a lot more like Christ. A good friend of mine describes patience as “waiting without complaining.”
I think we could all stand to stop complaining during the waiting. Join me!
Action Steps
Are you in a waiting room right now? How well are you waiting on God? The next time you begin to feel impatient, ask God, “What do you want me to learn from this?”
Scripture
About this Plan
The word surrender doesn’t have very positive connotations in our society. It tends to be seen as a weakness. However, surrendering takes more strength than you can imagine. We don't need to carry shame, worry, ingratitude or fear around, we need to “give it up completely” as one of the definitions of surrender suggests. I believe that when we surrender our lives to the Lordship of Christ we will find the abundant life promised us in John 10:10. After all, God gives His best to those who leave the choice to Him.
More
