As many of you already know, I deferred my World Race trip until July of 2015. I did this because it was what God wanted me to do. God has a plan for my life and that plan involves me waiting a year to leave. Since I deferred many people have asked me questions about waiting on God. Here is everything I know about it. 1) That it is what we should do. 2) That God’s plan is better than ours. But that’s all I know. I’ve never waited on him before. I’m incredibly impatient with Him (and others). And I’m not good at trusting the people I can see much less the God I can’t. But I wanted to learn more and I wanted to share what I learned with you, so I consulted an expert.
I consulted Bob Wilkins about waiting on God because he’s an expert -which means that he has had some experience waiting on God’s timing. Here is Bob’s Story:
In 2007, Bob’s position at work was eliminated and he was out of work. He spent some time looking for other job opportunities and then the recession hit. For one and a half frustrating years, he constantly looked for a new job, but found nothing. Around that same time, our church began to process or selling our building to relocate to a new facility. Bob went to the church staff and volunteered to help with the process in any way he could; after all he had the availability. He began helping out as the liaison between the church and the other organizations and people helping the church move. Overtime this became a full-time commitment. Eventually, it became obvious to Bob – because his wife pointed it out- that the church needed him to help with this process and that God was using the time in his life fulfill this need. At some point in this process, he stopped looking for new employment and spent his time volunteering at the church and at Green Harvest Food Pantry, and he began to focus on helping others rather than on his own struggles and frustrations. In 2014, the church had a new property, a completed building, things with the bank were worked out, and Bob’s full-time volunteer position was no longer full-time. Currently, Bob has a full-time job that he really enjoys and God has blessed him for waiting.
As I talked with Bob, he told me that it wasn’t always easy to wait on God. He told me that at times it was frustrating and that he worried a lot. But despite all his worries and frustration, God still to care of him and his family. Bob was living off his retirement before he had planned to and in the mist of the biggest economic recession since the great depression his accounts held up. Bob came to the realization that this was a God thing. God came through for him and his family by keeping them financially afloat when reason would say that they shouldn’t be.
During this tough time, Bob spent a lot of time volunteering and he learned a lot during this experience. One of the things he learned was that God will provide for us to the extent of our faith. He related this to the story of the Widow with Olive Oil (2 Kings 4:4-7). She was told to collect empty jars and God would fill them with Olive Oil. So she went and collected jars and they were filled until there were no jars left; “then the oil stopped flowing” (2 Kings 4:6). If the women had collected more jars, they would have been filled until there were none left. This encouraged Bob because he trusted God to provide, so he quit worrying about his accounts because he trusted God to faithfully provide for him and his family.
Along with this story, Bob shared with me some of the verses in the Bible about waiting on God that helped him get through this time in his life. One of these verses was Psalms 37:7. Bob spent time wondering why everyone else is fine; why can’t he find a job. This verse talks about being still and waiting patiently on God. It also talks about not fretting when other people succeed. Bob realized that he needed to wait for God’s plan and throw his out the window. Though other people were finding jobs and doing things he wasn’t, what God had in store for him was so much bigger than the plans he had for his life.
Another verse was Psalms 41. The section of the Bible made him realize that it is okay to go to God with our frustrations, but that he needed to be patient and wait on God. It was okay to tell God we didn’t like it and to ask him why this was happening, but it’s not okay to jump the gun on God’s plan or complain and wallow in self pity.
Another section of the Bible was 1 Peter which reminded Bob that he was not alone because God tests the faith of all his children and not just testing Bob’s faith.
Bob put verses on a board to help him get through this tough time. He tried every day to turn that day over to God and not to regress back into his worry and frustration because he knew God was in control. This walk of turning the day over to God was a daily walk, and sometimes on bad days, an hourly walk where every hour he would read the verses and turn the next hour over to God. Bob began to understand that he did not need to live with a spirit of fear, but rather wait patiently, and eagerly, and without worry.
It is important for us all to understand that God’s timing is perfect weather we like it or not, but that doesn’t necessarily make the waiting period any easier. Through this experience, Bob learned a lot and his faith grew. His story ended with a new job that came after God used him to help expand the kingdom of God.
After spending seven years waiting on God, Bob has some advise for people who are currently waiting on God. Read my next post and learn some of the things Bob did to help make the waiting period easier.
If you are currently waiting on God’s timing and would like to talk, feel free to contact me! We can walk through this journey together. Just click the link below to contact me.
