Wait... Patiently.

"95% of the Christian walk to maturity is waiting" - Catherine Harris

Waiting. Hopes up, oh wait, just kidding... wait again. Life seems to be a neverending waiting room where anticipation grows and fear definitely looms. Recently, a dear woman of wisdom shared with me the above quote... and boy was she right! The Christian life seems to be a by-way of waiting. We see it with David, the promised King of Israel as he hid from Saul for years though the throne was rightfully his. We see waiting in the story of Esther - a woman thrown into the unknown and scary world of a rather impetuous king. It's in the life of Jeremiah the prophet, who was called by God at an early age to be God's liason to His people, and it seems things never really let up for Jeremiah til the end of his life.

Life is all about waiting. But the growth comes with our response to "wait... patiently".

How often do our minds seem to race faster than our hearts? It seems we make rash, spur of the moment decisions based on emotion rather than careful pondering with the Lord on the issues at hand. And the more we run through this life independently of Him, the harder we fall when He does finally get our attention. Invincibility is not a virtue. Rest is. Being able to rest in the midst of turmoil and "what if's" is flat out miraculous. When our minds get the best of our hearts and fear suddenly sets in, the panic and the worry begin.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." - Phil. 4

That dang spirit of fear. The best acronym I've heard for fear thus far is "false evidence appearing real". One little thought crosses our mind and then that thought is lead to another, and soon enough we find ourselves stuck in a web of worry and deceit. We're convinced that something bad is going to happen or that God is simply not big enough or powerful enough to meet our needs and desires.

False evidence...

So when those looming worries swarm our minds, one way to minimize it is to think, "okay, best case this happens, worst case this." But maybe an even better way of fighting the fear that so easily entangles our lives is to reject the spirit of fear's power in our lives and ask the Holy Spirit to overwhelm us with peace and to replace the fears.

The other day I did that little exercise asking myself, "what are my worst fears?" Among the list were financial worries, relational worries, worries about family and friends, and even worries of failure and disappointment. So there sat my list... everything I was afraid of staring me in the face. "Okay," I thought, "so worst case scenario these things happen... now what?"

"Trust, my child"

"Who? What?" I said

"Me. Trust me, everything is going to be alright. I'm big enough to overcome the fears, I'm big enough to accomplish this and so much more."

"okay.... how?"

"Wait."

"How long?"

"Patiently."

Now that one got me. Patiently. It's always easy to trust someone or something when you see results pretty quick, but when you get 2-3 months or even years down the road of trust it seems that the line begins to blur and that He's no longer there...

"How long, Oh Lord, must I wait?" - King David, boy did he know the frustration of waiting!

And the road to trust is daily self-control, it's lots of prayer, lots of journaling, lots of simply waiting in His presence. And the best reminder of all is that even those times when it seems He's not there when we pray or read or seek solitude with Him, He's still at work in our hearts. For it's the times where it seems that nothing is going on that the 95% of the Christian growth is happening... because all things will come "...together for good".

God is all about the good.

God's distance or allowing us to walk through valley's along the road of life is not his way of punishing us. No, it's His way of disciplining us. And punishment and discipline are not one in the same. Punishment is "you screwed up, now there are consequences", discipline is "rerouting one's direction to a better goal".

God is molding us in what seems to be the "darkness" of the valley, but His light will soon radiate and show the growth that's happened along the way.

And when it seems that all hope is lost or we feel completely defeated, Oswald Chambers reminds us, "The vision that God gives us is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here."

He reminds us, "Ever since God gave us the vision, He's been at work."

So friends, don't lose hope, don't give up - for the race is nearly over, we're just a mile from shore. Don't quit over doubts and questions, for there's something you may learn. Don't quit for you're not a failure, until you fail to try.

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace" - Isaiah 55

Peace in His presence.