Visiting our daughter in China involves waiting in a lot of lines. First, my husband and I queue up at the Chinese consulate in Chicago to obtain our visas. In fact, we usually do this several times for just one visa, because
inevitably the rules will have changed and we will be missing an important document.

Then, on the day of our flight, we stand in security lines at O’Hare airport. We wait to get on the plane. We endure a fifteen-hour flight to Beijing, get off, retrieve our luggage, and stand in more lines for Chinese customs and security. We wait at the gate for the flight to the city where our daughter’s family lives, and when we arrive, we wait one more time for our bags. Finally, after twenty or more hours of travel, we are able to wrap our arms around our loved ones.

During these journeys, standing in a line is a given. But I have learned through these adventures in waiting that I do have a choice. I can choose to wait in patience or agitation, stillness or anxiety.

We have the same choice in life. Although life without delay is not an option, we can decide how we will wait.

Psalm 37:7 reminds us:

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!

We wait well when we follow the psalmist’s instructions to “Be still.” But how is this quiet possible? This stillness of spirit comes when we have poured out our souls and surrendered all our hopes and dreams to Him. Until then, we will keep striving and conniving and working on our projects. When we are finally still, God can work in our hearts.

What are you waiting for? What deep desire of your heart remains unmet? Perhaps you’ve been desperately praying for someone to share your life with. Maybe you are waiting for a child to hold. Or it could be you long to make a difference in the world but have no idea how. You pour out your heart day by day. But what you hear from heaven is deafening silence. All you can do is wait. The line for what you want seems to have no end. Frustration grows. Impatience joins you in the line.

My usual response is to stubbornly hold on to my desire. You could follow my example and refuse to be happy until you get your way.

Or you could relinquish your desire into the loving hands of God. The Father is there, waiting to listen to your heart’s cries. He knows what is best. He may satisfy your profound longings at the right time.

Or He may give you peace and joy in a new and better plan.

What if, in the waiting, we let go and allowed God to hold our dreams?

Next step: What are you waiting for? Grab a sheet of paper and write down your dream. Then offer it up to God with open hands. Let Him hold the dream and ask Him to give you peace while you wait.

This post is an excerpt from my new book Waiting: A Bible Study on Patience, Hope, and Trust.

Check it out! The book studies the lives of:

• Sarah
• Hannah
• The Widow of Zarapheth
• Esther
• Anna
• The Woman with a 12-year Hemorrhage
• Martha
• Ten Virgins

Through their examples, we find hope for the delays in our lives. We learn how to wait well.

Find the book on Amazon or CPH.org

We’ve all experienced the frustration of waiting. Waiting in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Waiting through airport security. Waiting for service in a restaurant.

Waiting to hear, “You’ve got the job!” Waiting for wedding bells. Waiting for test results. Waiting to be reconciled with a loved one.

And we despise it. In our modern culture of instant everything—same day shipping, streaming movies, online banking, microwaveable meals—we are accustomed to getting everything we want now. So when our lives are put
in a holding pattern, we complain and grumble and do anything we can to get things moving again.

But what if the waiting rooms of life are actually God’s best classrooms? What if the Holy Spirit changes us through the uncomfortable delays of life? What if, in the waiting, the Lord draws us near and imparts lessons we could miss when our lives are flying at the speed of a Boeing 777?

That’s the question I asked myself. Even though I think wait is a four-letter word that should never be used, God seems to love it. Throughout history, God has asked His people to wait. Sarah waited ninety years to become a mother. Joseph waited years in an Egyptian prison. The nation of Israel waited for centuries to freed from slavery.

To make sense of all this waiting, I decided to study the lives of a few of these God followers who waited. I chose eight biblical ladies-in-waiting, if you will. These were women who yearned for babies. Women who ached for healing. Women who waited for guidance. Women like you and me.

I wanted to find out how God wants us to handle seasons of delay. If we can’t have what we want when we want it, what are we to do while we’re waiting? As Christians, we know God’s promise of a happy ending through Christ. But what are we supposed to do in between heartache and heaven? Tap our toes? Watch the clock? Pace the carpet of hope until it’s worn thin?

The stories of these ladies-in-waiting showed me that there is a better way to wait. A way to wait well.

Their lives taught me about trust and surrender when life feels suspended. They demonstrated how to handle the daily-ness of waiting and showed me actions I can take even when it seems there is nothing I can do. I found that a pause in our plotline doesn’t mean the end of my story and that all waiting has a purpose.

After I discovered these hopeful truths about waiting, I wanted to share them with you. So I wrote a book called Waiting: A Bible Study on Patience, Hope, and Trust. Throughout the book, I share some of my own waiting stories. I’m sure you have your own accounts of delay and disappointment too. Although our stories may differ, we will see that God is present in every tale. He gives us His Word to encourage us when it feels like He’s nowhere to be found. He promises His nearness when it seems our prayers are not heard. And by the power of God the Holy Spirit through our Baptism, we have faith to trust in His timing and provision.

Although we may detest waiting and struggle greatly with it, ultimately we find that it has the power to draw us to Jesus. One of the best places to meet God is in the in-between.

Next step: Are you waiting? Thank God that He is present with you as you wait. Ask Him to give you hope in the truth that the waiting rooms of life are often God’s best classrooms.

This post is an excerpt from my new book Waiting: A Bible Study on Patience, Hope and Trust.

Check it out! The book studies the lives of:

• Sarah
• Hannah
• The Widow of Zarapheth
• Esther
• Anna
• The Woman with a 12-year Hemorrhage
• Martha
• Ten Virgins

Through their examples, we find hope for the delays in our lives. We learn how to wait well.

Waiting is not my best thing. But the story of Elizabeth in the Bible helped me learn something important during a period of waiting.

Elizabeth had a long wait.

The Bible tells us that the mother of John the Baptist was “advanced in years” when she gave birth to him. (Read her story in Luke 1.)

Elizabeth waited a long time to be a mother. She probably questioned her purpose in life from time to time. But when she received the mission of bringing the forerunner of the Savior into the world, she was also given the task to mentor and encourage the mother of the Messiah.

The angel Gabriel told Mary that Elizabeth was six months pregnant. Don’t you love it? God knew that Mary would need someone to encourage her and help her on this new journey. So He provided Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Was the Perfect Person to Encourage Mary

And if you think about it–Elizabeth was the perfect person to encourage Mary.

• Elizabeth lived away from Nazareth. Commentators speculate that Elizabeth lived in Hebron—which was about 80 miles from Nazareth—a four-day journey for Mary. It was a bit of a trek, but far enough away from the prying eyes of neighbors.
• Elizabeth was pregnant. Elizabeth and Mary could commiserate over morning sickness and swollen ankles. Mary didn’t have “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” It was helpful to have someone share what was ahead in this exciting new experience.
• Elizabeth was experiencing her own miracle. She wouldn’t laugh in disbelief at Mary’s preposterous story about an angel and a miracle birth because her husband had also had a visit with an angel. Elizabeth was pregnant even though humanly speaking it was impossible.
• Elizabeth knew the sting of reproach even though she had done nothing wrong. She was upright in the sight of God, but the first thing she does when she finds out she is with child is thank God for taking away her disgrace among the people. She would be able to give Mary advice on how to deal with the gossip and criticism that were sure to come.

Think about it. If God had answered Zechariah and Elizabeth’s prayer for a baby sooner, she would not have fulfilled the role of Mary’s mentor so perfectly. Sure, she could have given birth to John the Baptist when she was twenty—but that would not have been as miraculous as having a baby at fifty or sixty. Perhaps she would have doubted Mary’s tale of an angel and a virgin pregnancy. She would not have had experience with the neighborhood gossip mill.

Our own experiences of waiting can connect us to other people going through similar situations. Just like Elizabeth and Mary, we can become connected in the waiting. We can use what we learned in our waiting times to encourage those who are traveling a similar path.

The Number One Thing to Do When Your Are Waiting

So what’s the number one thing to do when you are in a period of waiting?

Remember: wherever you are in life, everything you are going through right now matters.

All the waiting that Elizabeth went through prepared her for her most important role. All the years of waiting for an answered prayer drew her closer to God.

While we may never grow to like it—waiting serves a purpose. We can grow closer to Him when we expect God to accomplish something bigger than we can imagine. And we can connect to others by using the wait as a course in encouragement.

Next step: What are you waiting for right now? A husband? A baby? A job? Reconciliation with a loved one? Take the bold step of thanking God for what you can learn in a period of waiting. Then reach out to someone who has experienced a similar wait. Give them the opportunity to encourage you with what they learned in their waiting period.

For more information on waiting on God, check out a free resource.