Faith in Action: Waiting

Wait. 

This is often a word that no one wants to hear.

Waiting can be difficult, especially when we're desiring something good in life.

For example, "As a child on Christmas Eve, we must wait for Christmas to arrive to dive into the pile of gifts laid out nicely for all." 

As a child, it's hard for us to wait for joyous moments such as these. I remember a time when I was little where the value of waiting was too much. On Christmas Eve, my mother used to give me and my sisters one gift to open. We joyfully ran into the living room, sat down in anticipation, while my mom handed us these beautifully wrapped gifts. We tore off the wrapping to reveal what was inside. As I dropped the last of the wrapping paper on the floor, I noticed that the gift I held in my hands were different then what my sisters unwrapped. The two of them marveled at their new dolls while I held a knitted scarf and hat. They were beautiful, however, my next set of actions weren't. I threw the gift down and threw a fit because I didn't get a doll of my own. After my fit, I ran off to my room. In the haste of my fit, I didn't realize what my actions had done to my mom, who was excited for us to see what she worked so hard to get us. 

In my mom's anger, she shuffled through the bits of gifts hidden in her room for the one she thought she grabbed and threw it at me. I came to find out that I did get a precious little doll from her but in her rush to give these gifts, she grabbed the wrong one for me. Her feelings were hurt because I wasn't being grateful, nor did I wait to see what Christmas day would bring. 

I remember this Christmas and the feelings that I felt afterward weren't pleasant. I felt guilty, sad, and I felt bad for not being grateful for what I had. I felt bad for what I did. If I had been grateful and waited, I would have found out the next day that my mom got me a doll too. That was the year that I ruined Christmas for my family. If I would have waited, I wouldn't have broken my mom's heart, stole the joy from the season, and I could have saved myself my own heartache. 

Our relationship with God and faith is just that... waiting. Sometimes when we ask God for things, we take His response as Him not answering our prayers or ignoring us. That is not the case. We need to have faith when we take things to God in prayer that He will answer them according to His will. Perhaps God did answer your prayer and it was a simple "no" or "not yet?" 

When we are praying, we need to wait patiently and have faith that God will answer us in His time and in the way He sees is best for us. Sometimes when He says no, we later find out that it was, in fact, better for us. Therefore don't let the enemy to persuade you that God is deaf to your prayers or ignoring you because HE'S NOT!

I believe that waiting is God's way of testing our faith and helping us to grow in our faith. Therefore, the next time you feel you're in the waiting period, thank God for the waiting moment and see what blessing He's trying to show you.