I Don't Mind Waiting

How many of you would consider yourself a patient person? You can wait easily for what you want, including the desires of your heart that you share with your heavenly Father. I'm sure your patience has really paid off in your life. There are others, like myself, in which God has had to grow patience. Having the character of little patience makes waiting a difficult and tedious task. Those with little faith often give up on waiting, and result in settling for something that is "as good as we can get" to the real thing.



I think back to the fond memories of my childhood. I would have a certain amount of money, and the excitement of spending it would consume my every thought. I would continuously ask when we were going to the store, what store we were going to, and if it was time to go yet. My lack of patience, and excitement mixed with eagerness would cause frustration that would sometimes land me in trouble in these situations. Think about your life as a child. Some events that were hard to wait for include Christmas morning, the first day of school, and maybe even your birthday. We knew that these days would come, but waiting for them was difficult because we knew that exciting things were going to happen for us. Does this sound familiar in your life today?


God has His own way of doing things. He listens to our prayers, and we tell Him the desires of our heart, and we expect Him to answer instantly. We want to pray microwave prayers. We want to pray for something for a short time, and have a quick product of our prayer. We want God to do what we want Him to do when we want Him to do it. We often forget that God is not operating on our time, yet, we are operating on His. God has marvelous things for us, if only we would wait.


Once again, I think back to having that money that used to burn a hole in my hand as a child. Before we would leave for the store, my mother would tell me what stores we would be shopping in that day. I would be so excited to get something new, anything new. I would always find something to buy at the first store. My mother would question me. I can vividly hear her asking, "Are you sure you want that? I told you we were going other places. You may see something you want somewhere else, and then you will not have any money to spend. Have you really thought about it?" The majority of the time, my eagerness and lack of patience would consume me and I would succumb to buying the first item that I saw that appealed to me without thinking twice, even though I would tell her that I had really thought deeply about it. We would continue on our shopping trip, and sure enough, I would see something else that I wanted before the day was over. I would so desperately want it, but I would have already spent my money. Suddenly, the item that I had purchased earlier would not look so interesting and necessary any longer. At times, I would end up in tears. Thank God for growth!


How many times in our lives do we create a mess because we can't wait when God has promised us something? He tells us that it is in His will for us to do something, but we can't wait and work according to His time. The things that we do without His guidance always end up in a mess. And, we go crawling back to God begging and crying out for Him to fix it! It is our lack of patience that makes us settle for less than what God has prepared for us, and results in the mess.


Waiting is a difficult and tedious task. I don't think this can be said enough. If we know this fact, we should be able to have more patience when waiting upon the Lord. We know that God will not leave or forsake us, and if the desires of our heart are in His will for us to have, we must wait until it is He who provides them for us.


Waiting has NEVER been an easy task for me. I have, however, learned that when waiting gets difficult and tiresome, and I feel like I am losing my patience and strength to wait, God will intervene for me and give me more strength and patience to wait if only I would ask.


Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.


This scripture gives me strength in knowing that if I wait on the Lord, everything that should be; will be, if it is in His will. I thank God that I have come a long way from that little girl whose excitement would overtake her actions. Even though it is tough, tedious, and even mind-boggling at times, I don't mind waiting on the Lord, for only His blessings will last and prosper in my life! "He may not come when you want Him, but He's always right on time."


Lord, I want to thank you for making me wait! I realize that You know Your will for my life, and if the desires of my heart are in Your will, it shall come to pass. I thank You for past times in my life that You have made me wait upon You, for I realize that this strengthened my dependence on You. You are an awesome God. Lord, help me to understand that I operate on Your time, and not You on mine. Help me to appreciate the privilege of waiting on You, for the things that You bless me with are long lasting and prosperous. Lord, I ask that you forgive me for times that I allowed impatience to overtake my actions and I chose not to wait on You. I pray that in future times of waiting; you will strengthen my impatience and help me to not succumb to my desires, but to Your will for my life. I love you and thank You for knowing exactly how to love and grow me, so that I am prepared to enter Your kingdom when this life is over.
Amen.