Impatience with the Waiting

"So isn't there something here that should tell us that while hoping for the miracle, while praying for the miracle, maybe we should view God's silence not as punishment but as preparation? May be we should stop cursing the waiting and start thanking God for it? May be should trust that His timing and His way is perfect, and that He's only asking us to wait because He loves us too much to bring us something we're not yet ready for? . . .
Long we wait for the promise. But we don not wait alone. He is here, in the waiting, in the praying, in the weeping, in the hoping, in the doubting, in the trusting, in the wishing . . . HE IS HERE."
(Mandy Hale, The Single Woman)


I read the above quote as part of a blog on advent, waiting, and singleness. The Single Woman is one of my favourite blogs to read on life as a single Christian woman. Honesty about the good and hard realities of life, encouragement and hope in the midst of it all. The post this quote is from was no exception and left me with much to ponder.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, many events around the holidays can present a challenge for singles. A season where the reminder of being single and what we long for and are waiting for seems to be much more noticeable. Then I came across this post that reminded me once again, that in a time of year I love because of what we are celebrating, it's okay of I struggle with the waiting sometimes. The important thing is what I do in the waiting.

Do I put my trust in God?

Or do I get impatient and go looking for my own solution to fill that longing?

When Jesus came to earth as a baby, the Israelites has been waiting for the promised Messiah for generations. They had waited while God had been completely silent for the last 400 years.

In those years of waiting, they had come to their own conclusions and ideas of what it would look like for the promised Messiah to come. Instead of waiting with God for what He promised in His timing, they began to look for what they wanted - what they thought they needed. And then, they missed God's promise fulfilled.

When I reflect on this, I see how easy it could be for me to do the same thing in my life. Instead of taking my desire for marriage to God in prayer and trusting that God has things in control, I could get impatient with the waiting and try to make it happen all on my own. Or I can trust God in the waiting that He is preparing me for His plan - which may or may not look like mine.

It's a choice we all have in any area where we feel like we're waiting. We always get to choose how we will wait. Will we trust God? Will we remember that He is there in the waiting? Or will we do our own thing and miss what God has for us because of it?