The Unexpected Joy of Waiting on God

In high school, I regularly attended meetings for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I found a group of friends there I wouldn’t have otherwise come together with. 

One day, as we were discussing prayer, one of the older students, a senior said, “When we pray, God only answers us in one of three ways: Yes, no, or wait.” 

I have been thinking about what that meant for the better part of 12 years now.

Yes is easy. We ask, God delivers, we are thankful. Sometimes yes is too easy, and we forget to give thanks for that thing or desire we so desperately prayed for. But in general, we understand the yeses, and we love them.

Even no isn’t really that hard when it comes to prayer. We pray for something good to happen to us or someone we love, and it doesn’t quite work out the way we planned. It can be difficult at first, to understand why God said no, but eventually we remember that God is all knowing, and that this particular prayer was just not a part of his plan. So we move on with our lives and find new things to pray about and ask for.

“Wait” though… that’s the tough one, isn’t it? It tears at the core of our very being to have to wait for something. We live in a world that wants to have answers yesterday to the questions we ask today. It seems so strange, if God already knows the plans he has for us, why can’t he just answer our prayers now?

Patience is not a word that ANYONE would use to define me. It doesn’t even come up in the conversation. Literally, I have none.

When I was ready to have my first child, I wanted that little pink line to turn pink like yesterday. I knew the statistics and that it could take a while, but I wanted it right then and there. I wanted to feel that joy and excitement and tell the world that we were starting a family and this was it!

And then 9 months rolled on by…

Each month I talked myself into believing that this was the month. I just knew because: (insert irrational reason here).

But each month God told me to wait. I could not fathom why each month wasn’t “our month.” 

Then, just before Christmas in 2013, the most magical thing happened: two.pink.lines. The timing was amazing, we would get to share our news with both families for Christmas and I would get a perfect little summer sunshine baby. Turns out God knew best after all. Shocking, right?

To think I tried so hard to will those pregnancy tests to read positive, and all I really needed to do was wait, take a breath, and have a little faith.

It is so easy to look back on the pivotal moments of my life and see all the signs that God was sending me, promising me something great was coming.

When I prayed for love, God sent me the perfect man. Seriously, it does not get better than this guy. I wish I could have met him when I was younger just so we could have had that much more time together.

When I prayed for a child, God sent me the most beautiful little girl, and two years later the sweetest little boy.

When I prayed for new opportunities for my family– and got quite impatient in the process–God sent me to a new home with new friends, a new community, the BEST church, and the most beautiful place I could ever have imagined to raise my children. I have been my best self since we moved here and I am so thankful for that.

So if you are struggling in prayer or you feel like you are not being heard, grab a cup of coffee (or a margarita if that’s what you need), take a deep breath… and wait. God’s timing is never wrong.

Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.  Psalm 27:14.

*This post was originally published at aroseformommy.blogspot.com