Productive Waiting

Everyone has heard of ‘seasons of life’, ‘a new chapter’, ‘a new page’… you get the picture. It’s been highly evident this past month that the Lord has allowed me to enter in one of these seasons. This particular one I would personally title ‘FAITH TO THE FULLEST’… this is code for: LORD, what is going on here?!

I feel like it’s important to be transparent about the matter because,

well, frankly, it seems like it’s not talked about much. I mean think about it: tell me how many times you’ve asked another Believer how they were doing and they replied ‘I’m trusting the Lord that He knows I’m in a place of searching and …’ We talk about the reward of waiting and speak of it in past tense terms, but no one seems to really ever talk about what it takes to wait. Why we wait. What in the blue blazes we are supposed to do while we wait.

That’s because all of our situations are different, but one thing always remains the same: God. He doesn’t change. Micah 7:18c tells us that ‘He delights in steadfast love.’ This verse has been rocking my world this week. To know that God is faithful when it says that He never changes (Mal. 3;6, Heb 13:8), but that He delights (has great pleasure… bbp’s version: gets a kick out of) in His steadfast (stable, constant) love.

I’ve noticed over the past week as I’ve grown more desperate, the Lord has begun to put people in my path to encourage. Today I began to realize yet again, that He’s using this time to not only strengthen my faith but lift others up (edify) as well. How encouraging it is to realize that God continually uses you as you seek Him?! Not only has He allowed me to encourage, but He’s given me to opportunity to be encouraged.

Is that hard for y’all? I have to catch myself brushing off encouragement, like I don’t need it or I’m too busy looking for others to encourage… ie: pride gets in the way. Receiving someone’s encouragement is just as much of a gift to them as it is to you.

So why not, as we continue our faith walks this week, let’s stop a minute every now and then to see not only what God is doing around us, but how we can take part- how we can encourage and be encouraged. Faith is just as much ACTIVE as it is waiting; and while we are waiting, we might as well be productive, right?!  🙂