Waiting Well can be a lonely road. I think it’s lonely for a reason. God wants us to be still and be alone with HIM.
This is the last post in my series on waiting well. I hope it’s been meaningful to you! It has been very good for me to put in the thought and do the research, and say the prayers to come up with the ideas for this series. Next year, I plan to do a series on The Lord’s Prayer!!
When I’m In A Holding Pattern
When I am in a holding pattern- a waiting period, I tend to be very antsy! I want answers, peace, change. It can be a very uncomfortable place to be. It’s the old fight or flight, and believe me, I pick flight every time. I don’t like discomfort.
I tell my “book study” friend all the time, “but I don’t want to go through another tragedy.” It’s hard to be in a bad place!!
However, I know that it’s from those bad times that we grow the most if we allow it. Waiting falls into this “bad place” because usually when we are waiting, we are waiting for the bad to become the good in our lives.
The act of waiting goes against my nature. How about you?
The most important thing that I can do when I’m in a holding pattern in life is Be Still.
Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
In a world where being busy is as big a commodity as currency, being still can be seen as laziness, inactivity, incompetence.
“Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”
Sloth is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
With these types of idioms and concepts in the back of our minds, it’s easy to get caught up in the “busyness” of life. The bible touches on these concepts, but scripture is clear that we need to Be Still.
Exodus 14:14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.
Job 37:14 …stop and consider the wonderous works of God.
Isaiah 40:31 But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Psalm 37:7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…
Psalm 62:5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.
God Wants Us To Be Still and be alone with Him
In my new life, I have a lot of time in solitude and silence. I live in a beautiful area where I simply walk out my door and have a place to sit and feel the calmness that only being in nature brings!
I’ve changed so much since moving to my new life in my new home in my new state. I don’t crave the shopping and the hustle and bustle or my old life. Solitude, peace, silence is what I crave the most.
One thing that I learned from my waiting period after the death of my first husband is that we can’t outrun the time of waiting. You just have to BE, and let God do the rest.
God wants us to be still and be alone with HIM. “Be still” to me means that I don’t make any rash decisions. We have all heard the advice to the newly widowed… Don’t make any big decisions for a year after you lose a spouse which is very sound advice. When we are in the midst of a tragedy or a waiting period, we don’t want to make rash decisions.
Don’t Escape Your Life
We also don’t want to run from our lives as they are in the moment. It is very easy to want to escape, but we can’t escape reality. Food, shopping, sex, alcohol, drugs are all ways that people try to escape their reality, but each is just a temporary fix, and most will lead to more problems which adds to the stress of any situation.
The only thing we can truly control is how we handle our times of waiting. I pray that if you are in a time of waiting that you will use it as a time to grow. Grow closer to God. Grow mentally, spiritually, and physically. Grow in joy. Grow in forgiveness. Release the need to fix every situation. Release the need to be so busy. Release the feelings of anxiety.
May 2021 be a year of growth and release!
To read more of my thoughts- Tragedy Happens- Am I Ready
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