Finding Beauty in the Wait

The more I wrote the more I realized what the anchor to this whole thing called waiting on God. Surrender. That was going to be key!!!

These truths. These keys beat in my chest to share. The more I study, the more I learn, the more my eyes are open to this one question: What am I waiting on? What are we waiting on? 

I was brought up to believe when I met "the one" life began. So for years, thats what I pursued. Thats what I waited on God for. I was running the race He had laid out before me, but forever looking beside me and behind me. Never truly fixing my eyes on Jesus. There were moments and seasons when I would, but honestly, never for very long before something or someone caught my attention and distracted me. 

This almost three year journey of learning to find beauty in waiting on God has been a life changing journey. It's been a journey of God showing me the colors, the beauty, in what otherwise feels black and white and mundane.  

 It's not a journey I was looking to go on, but one that God has taken me on. When I talk about waiting, it almost feels silly to me now to boil all my waiting down to waiting on God for a husband. I do want to get married one day, don't miss understand me, but there are so many things we find ourselves waiting on God for. What I have learned is that the very things God taught me about finding beauty on waiting for one specific desire of my heart to be met, also apply to just waiting on him for anything. 

What it all boils down to...honestly....is trust and faith in that God is who he says he is, He can do what he says he can do, we are who he says we are! It's surrender! So often we are so fixated on what we want, that we never take our eyes off it long enough to ask God if it's even what He wants for us. Often times what we want is for God to just sign off on our dream and plans we have our lives--rather than bring our dreams, hopes, and plans and lay them at the feet of Jesus and surrender. 

The reason we don't is we are afraid that what God has planned can't possibly be as good as the life we have come up with or created for ourselves. For too long we have worshiped the created instead of the Creator! 

What does it take to wait on God...in anything...is Trust! 

For the desire to glorify God with your life to be all consuming. Our desires will fuel our decisions.

To not only know who we are in Christ, but actually believe it. Our hearts are treasures that should be cherished. Oh, how easy that is to say and difficult is to live in this world…I’m not going to sugarcoat it. There is a real temptation to want to try it the worlds way! There is real temptation to not believe who God says you and I are in Jesus Christ, but rather lean on what the world says. It’s a very real and daily battle. But when we do daily choose to believe God over the lies of the enemy... our behaviors will change as a result. It’s never been about behavior modification. It’s always been about heart transformation.

Understanding the purpose of marriage and being single. They are both gifts--one is not a higher calling than the other. They are BOTH seasons when you really think about it. God’s best for you, in anything including marriage, is to make you more like Jesus. Marriage is gift not a goal. Being made more like Jesus…now that is goal.

I can’t promise that waiting on God and His timing and best will be easy. But what I can tell you is this…Jesus is right there with you in the boat. Don’t be distracted by the storm, when the one who commands the wind and waves to obey is right next to you. It might feel like Jesus is sleeping sometimes, but he is never unaware of your desires, and circumstances.

But at the very root of this whole thing, the conclusion I have come to within myself, is that the ONLY way to wait on God…is surrender.

Because whatever your waiting on, when you get it, guess what…you’ll be waiting on something else. Waiting is a moving target. God knows the desires of your heart and mine. He knows best how to fulfill those desires. Our strength is weakened when we wait on the THING or PERSON and NOT on God! There is a HUGE difference. When we wait on the Lord our strength is renewed. Not when we wait on God for a particular thing…just when we wait on Him.

Waiting is not passive. The waiting that God talks about is an active waiting--a waiting that lives life. Waiting on God does not equal sitting around for life to start. It’s saying, “God you have me for anything.” It’s complete surrender. Trusting that God knows the desires of your heart & he does not withhold any good thing. So therefore, if marriage is good for you to have…guess what? You’ll have it. In his timing.

If God is ever withholding a true desire of your heart it is because he is trying to get in underneath the motive behind that desire.

To quote Beth Moore, “God will either give you the desire of your heart or the heart of your desire.”

You may think that sounds like some trick, but I promise when one needs to trump the other you want the heart of your desire, because what we want changes consistently.

Occasionally it helps me to process when I can write out these few things that God continues to take me back to that are keys to waiting on Him and finding purpose in it. But the bedrock I’ve discovered at the end of the day really is…surrender.