Heart and Soul Messages

Waiting.  Just the word alone gives me anxiety – the hibbie jibbies, if you will.  I can honestly say that it is in my top 2 least favorite things to do.  It comes in right after running, but that’s a rabbit hole we won’t go down today.

And it’s not the lack of activity that gets me.  Taking five, having some down time, easing off a bit, taking time to smell the roses, etc., etc., etc….  All of those are actually ok with me.  And why do you ask?  Because I am the one in control of when those breaks, slow downs, and rose-smelling times start and stop.  Waiting, on the other hand, means that I’m at the mercy of a time period beyond my control.

But in all fairness, I don’t think I’m alone in not liking to wait.  If I were ever to start to think that I was the only human on the planet that wasn’t ok with waiting, all I would ever have to do is make a doctor’s appointment.  That would put me smack dab in the middle of a whole room full of people that would remind me that, in general, no one really likes to wait.  

But something that I have noticed in those instances is that very few people get up and walk out of the doctor’s office, regardless of the fact that the scrub-wearing, chart-holding person opening the door to the hidden hallway of rooms gave them false hope and did not call out their name.  Instead they longingly stare at the lucky one that gets to go through the magic doorway.  And they stay seated.  Waiting.

So, what about when you are in God’s Waiting Room?  You know the place.  If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you at some point, and at various times throughout your life, have found yourself there. You may be there right now.  It’s that place where you have been stirred to move from one place in your life, but you have not yet been given the direction in where to go next.  During that time between “not here” and “not over there yet” is God’s Waiting Room.

You feel led to leave one career, but you don’t see any doors opening for what you feel is your next move.  You have put in years where you are, but you don’t feel led to retire just yet.  You have been serving in one capacity, but you feel as though you should start to serve in another.  On and on….   And what we are told to do in the “in-between” is wait.

God’s Word tell us in Psalms 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”  

Have you noticed that it is in these waiting periods that our focus is able to change?  As a believer, you begin to hang on every nudge from the Spirit.  You are no longer just going through the routine and busyness of your days.  You are more alert, and you turn to prayer in a deeper way. You seek more and more of what the Word has to tell you.  You have switched from driving an automatic to driving a standard where you have to give more attention to when to change the gears.

Yes, we may feel lost.  Personally, at this exact point of my life, I feel lost.  I know I’m not to stay fully where I am, but I am not yet sure of where I am supposed to be going.  And listen, for a planner, that is not an easy place to be!  But what I do know is that God has His best for me.  And pushing open the door when the scrub-wearing, chart-holding person hasn’t yet called my name, puts me in a hallway where a room is not yet prepared for me to meet the One in charge and receive my instructions.

So, if you find yourself in this “in-between,” let yourself know that it’s ok.  You are not in the waiting room alone.  Take a look around.  You may be surprised who He has allowed to be in the room with you.  And regardless, as a believer, Jesus never leaves you in the room alone.  He is ALWAYS with you.

You have been strategically placed to make an impact on those around you before, and you will be placed strategically again.  In the meantime, grab the Good Book and read, share with the others seated next to you, and know that when that room is ready for you, you will be called beyond God’s Waiting Room.