Friday, December 7, 2012

How Are You At Waiting?

          Currently our family is undergoing a challenge of waiting.  I have to be honest that as someone who likes to have some sense of control and direction on things, this is extremely challenging.  While it is challenging it has caused me to think about a couple of different items in my life.

First, I think it is necessary to provide the context why we are waiting currently.  We made a decision six months ago to move to Ohio to start in a new ministry position.  This opportunity has been incredible as I am blessed to work with a great staff, amazing volunteers, and students that are hungry for the Word of God to make a difference in their lives.  As with any move to a new setting you need a place to live, which we found in the form of a rental property that we were going to call home for a year.  However, after six months of encountering challenges with this property we have been released from our lease and free to find another housing option.  It was amazing how God paved the way for us to get out of our rental property, have the necessary funds to purchase a home of our own, and provide the perfect house for our family.  As we moved through the process things have progressed very well, however with almost everything being completed we were asked to wait before we find out our closing/moving date.  Maybe this is challenging because Christmas is coming and I wanted to be in our own home for that special day.  Maybe this is challenging because I like to have some form of control in my life, which I think we all secretly really want.  Or maybe this is challenging because I am not willing to trust God completely.  This last one caught me off-guard as I have been wrestling through some thoughts this week, but may be the most accurate. 

I have been working through the book Greater by Steven Furtick recently and I stumbled across this prayer/explanation yesterday in my reading.  “Here’s my life, Lord.  It’s open ended.  And it’s pointed the direction of the next step You call me to take.  No matter what it costs.’ This is what’s crazy about fully surrendering to God in this way: On the one hand, it feels as if you’re losing control.  Because essentially you are.  But on the other hand, an amazing freedom comes from praying a prayer like that.  Because when you do, your heavenly Father takes the outcome of your obedience into His responsible hands.  You no longer have to carry the weight on your own.’”  I have to be honest and let you know that after reading that quote some things in my life started to come in a little clearer.  I started to reflect on everything that God had done for me in my life, things like, all of the times that He provided for me, the times that He took care of my family even when I couldn’t, the times that He guided me through difficult situations / circumstances / conversations, just to name a few.  I then wondered why is it so hard for me to trust God with this situation.  As I was thinking about that I read another quote from the same book that said “God does not necessarily tell you how He will do it, only that He will do it.”  In the pages that followed the book reflects on the story of Abraham, who God calls to leave his home and go to the land that God will show him.  God didn’t tell him where or when he would find it but simply that God would lead him there.  Our family currently finds ourselves in a similar boat in that we know where God is leading but we don’t know when.

After reflecting on these thoughts for almost a day, I wondered if anyone else is having this same struggle right now in their life.  Maybe it’s with a situation of where to move.  Maybe it’s with a situation surrounding your job.  Maybe it’s with a bold dream that you’ve never had the courage to pursue.  Maybe it’s waiting on God to reveal the next step for your life, family, or ministry.  Whatever the case what would your life look like if you began to trust God more, became comfortable in the waiting stages of life, and celebrated the arrival when you got to your destination?

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