Sometimes
God’s timing does not line up with ours. Okay, a LOT of times it
doesn’t line up. For this, I am grateful. I am not a perfect person
and I am not claiming to be 100% okay when God is telling me to wait.
I feel like a child most times when I talk to God. “Are
we there yet?….How about now?… Now are we there? Aren’t we there
yet? Are we close to being there?” The answer I received
as a child when those questions were asked was “Every
time the wheel goes ’round we get a little closer“.
The answer I receive now is about the same. God has his timing and it
is always perfect. God recently brought to mind Habakkuk during this
present waiting period.
Habakkuk
2:3 says
“The
vision will still happen at the appointed time. It hurries toward its
goal.
It
won’t be a lie. If it’s delayed, wait for it. It will certainly
happen.
It
won’t be late.”
God
does not make empty promises. He fulfills EVERYTHING
that is spoken. But, what about those times where you don’t hear
anything? Do you try to do things on your own… in your timing? How
does that work out for you? Usually for me, it doesn’t work out too
well.
I
am a waiting period in my life that is uncomfortable. Every day I
CHOOSE to find the JOY
in the waiting. I have been unemployed since September 20th.
I have been fully qualified for many positions that I have applied
for, but rarely hear anything back from the companies. I have had
‘ins’ within certain companies and still….nothing. The first couple
days of being unemployed, I was hurt. I didn’t understand why the
temp position didn’t want to hire me on. In my short time with the
company (3 months), I trained a few people, I moved to higher
positions and was getting prepared to move to another higher
position. So, when I received a call from the temp agency letting me
know that I would no longer be employed there, it hit hard. The
reasoning they gave didn’t make sense. When the week started back,
people kept telling me not to let this get me down. I would tell them
that something better would come along and I would be ok. I told them
that I was actually ok with not being there. I convinced myself for
the first week that I really was ok. But, I
wasn’t ok. I wasn’t talking to God. I did not ask him for
a new job, I didn’t ask for JOY
in the waiting. After doing that for a week, I couldn’t do it
anymore. I couldn’t hide behind the “Everything’s ok” mask. I
wasn’t asking for JOY... I
wasn’t ASKING… period. We are told to ASK.
(Matt
7:7-8)
“Ask
and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock
and the door will be opened to you.
For
everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds;
and
to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Why
in the world am I not ASKING for JOY
EVERYDAY?! Such a simple thing to ask for. Why did I not think of
that before? Why am I sitting with pretend joy, when I could have the
real thing?
I
now have JOY
in the waiting. I may not have a lot of patience, but I serve
a God who has unlimited patience!
(1
Tim 1:16)
“But
for that very reason
I
was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners,
Christ
Jesus might display his immense
patience
as
an example for those who would believe in him
and
receive eternal life.”
I
know that this time of being unemployed is preparing me for something
bigger. God has something BIG up his sleeve, and although I may not
know what that may be right now, I will ask and wait patiently and
CHOOSE JOY! There are many
things I am waiting patiently for… A job, a husband, a place to
live, a church I feel a part of… But, as I said, I will wait for
God’s BIG plan and rejoice while I wait.
