It can be agonizing to wait for God’s timing. In 2008, I received from God a sign that I should wait for the woman, who had just broken up with me, to come back to me. I thought that she was the one, but she was not feeling the same way at that time.
I would wait 50 weeks before she eventually did feel the same way and returned to me just as God promised. She is now my wife and the mother of my children and we have both grown and received so much from our relationship. However, it is interesting to me that our relationship would start out in such a way.
10 days after she broke up with me, God gave me a sign, a promise, that this woman would return and that I should wait for her. I believed Him and waited, but I was not expecting it to take so long or hurt as badly as it did. What I thought would take only a few days would actually take almost a year, but I would not understand why it would take so long until much later.
Have you ever waited for God and it felt like nothing was changing or going the way you expected it to? I can’t tell you how many times I felt defeated as I waited for my promise to be fulfilled. I continued to trust and wait, but some days it seemed like things were going in the exact opposite direction!
The worst moment for me was when I found out that she was dating another guy. She happened to be in the same car as me when her friend mentioned that she and this guy were going out. To make matters worse, he was a really good guy too.
However, what seemed like the final nail in the coffin for my promise was actually the beginning of its sprouting. The roots were firmly established, and something changed when the girl I would one day marry observed my terribly (and painfully) awkward silence after hearing of her new boyfriend. She realized that she in fact still had feelings for me, something that I had hoped for, but never saw any evidence for.
She soon broke up with her boyfriend and we began talking again. It was incredible, but I still remember that I had to wait for this promise to be fulfilled. It was 100% God’s timing.
If it were on my time, then we would’ve gotten back together the day after God gave me the sign. However, then I would not have received all of the growth, maturity, and deep lessons that I did over that year. You see, during that time I was stretched and discovered more about myself, about God, and how to be a stronger man for my future wife. Furthermore, with this time of waiting and God fulfilling His promise, I always have evidence that God is faithful whenever I experience difficulties in life or need to wait for another one of His promises to be fulfilled.
Life is incredible when you walk with the Lord, trusting in His loving Providence. Living your life in this way will cultivate peace and joy, and you will be much better able to handle difficulties both great and small. While it also makes it easier to wait on God’s timing, here are a few things to keep in mind to assist you in your waiting. These will help you to have the right mindset, take effective steps to grow while you wait, and finally, they will help you gain from the waiting process exactly what is needed for you to handle and live out God’s promise when He delivers it.
Here are the things to keep in mind. Please let me know if you think of other things that I didn’t that you believe will help with this as well!
- Know that waiting is the point.
We might get caught up in wondering why the promise hasn’t come yet or why it is taking God so long. This point helps us to understand that He wants us to wait, not to punish us or make us uncomfortable, but to stretch us and help us look to Him more. As I said earlier, if the woman I was waiting for to return to me came back right away, I would have missed out on all of the good and important lessons that I received through the waiting. - Focus on God.
While it may not exactly feel like it, this waiting period is a gift. It allows you to grow closer to God. It motivates you to seek Him more and pay more attention to what He is doing now. Yes, we can do this even when we are not waiting, and we should, but if God is making you wait, then He wants you to focus on Him even more during this particular season of your life. - Find your lessons.
On top of focusing on God, you should pay attention to the lessons that you are learning through the process of waiting. In my waiting period, I learned about putting what God wants before what I wanted. I learned that I needed to show more discipline in my life. I also matured a ton so that I could be a better man for the woman who is now my wife.Do not simply shrug off the things you experience that are uncomfortable. Look at them more deeply to discern if you can learn from them. Other experiences too can be used by God to teach you important lessons. Ask Him to help you to discover these if you are struggling with it.
- Be Still. Remember Exodus 14:14 which says, “The Lord will fight for you; you have only to keep still.”
Remember that if it is in the Lord’s hands, then you are safe in your waiting. Unless He gives you a specific direction to do something, then your job is to wait and trust. Be still means that you quiet your mind and settle down your heart. Try your best to stop the machine within you that obsesses or excessively worries. God is faithful and will bring about His timing for you.I had to go through a lot to wait for my wife, but I never pursued her. I wanted to ensure that it was truly God’s doing that brought her back. I just needed to wait, pray, and grow. God will do the fighting.
- Develop your interior life.
This essentially means to speak to God in prayer as often as you can and think deeply about yourself and the world around you. If only people knew how much of a treasure our inner self is. We have a private sanctum all to ourselves where we can think, imagine, and communicate with God! It is truly better than any form of entertainment out there. I am not saying that you need to rid your life of entertainment, but I am saying that using the waiting period that God has given you to develop your interior life more is extremely beneficial. It will also help with the waiting as well.
God’s timing is always good! He will not overdo it in stretching you. It will all become more clear once He delivers on His promise, but remember that He will not forsake you or let you down. Continue to trust, and He will take care of you.
“What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?”
-Romans 8:31-32
