I'm Waiting

As we continue to unpack from our long move we discover little treaures. One of these treasures was a Christmas video of David as a four year old sitting on his shiny new bike. David looks into the camera and asks if he can go outside to ride. We promptly answered yes. Three seconds later he raises his little hands and says "I'm waiting" in a little preschool sing-song voice (how could I ever have forgotten the sound of that.) Our answer was laughter as we explained we were waiting for him to put some clothes on.

This image was brought to mind as I heard a fellow Christian state "I'm just waiting on God." Often we feel this way and begin the "I'm waiting on you God, just like I know I'm suppose to." "Well, I've been patient, haven't you noticed? Where are you God?" All this in a short period of time. But often I think it is actually the reverse—God is waiting for us. Just like with my son and his need for further preparation before his desire was fulfilled, many are waiting when they should be in action.

Whether a move, a new job, a child, a new car or any other thing we are waiting—there may be reasons why we are still waiting. I know that my desire for a child was not fulfilled until I had totally given that desire to God. I had to come to the place where I was happy in the Lord with or without a child. It was a long, hard process but well worth it. On the reverse side we had a friend who was not willing to allow God to have control. This ultimately destroyed her marriage and she never became the mother she wanted to be. Her fear of "what if" took control over her faith that God was, and still is, in control.

Sometimes it might be unfinished business—to humble ourselves to someone we have wronged. Or forgive someone (even without an apology) who has offended us. Often it is just that we have not truly turned the outcome over to God. If we repeatedly try for that new job that never comes our way maybe we need to be content in the job we currently have. The last three jobs I had were offered to me without my applying for them. They fit my personality and allowed me to fit my schedule to my son's. How many jobs do you know that allow that?

Now after hearing this you might think I'm saying we have it down pat. Not by a long shot. For 20 years Rich and I tried to move out of the Northern Virginia area where we both grew up. This suburb of Washington was becoming more citified each year and as a country girl I didn't like it.

Our first real try was when we tried to get a job in my hometown. Nothing came out of any of his applications and at that time they were doing lots of hiring. Rich was qualified to do the job, had great references but still no job. We then tried other areas. Still no job. It was just recently that we were able to move to an area that we love. I don't know if God was waiting for us to let go so he could do his work or just that we needed to wait on his timing.