Everyone experiences waiting in their life.  Whether it’s in the doctor’s office, the grocery store, or most anywhere else you can think of.  We even think we wait on God to answer our prayers, reveal His plans for our lives to us, or perhaps even to change that “other” person(s) in our life.  Waiting is just a part of life and we learn to deal with it correctly with patience and compassion, or incorrectly with impatience with frustration or maybe even anger. Ugh!

Now usually the waiting lines in most of our daily activities are not really that long, and hopefully, we have learned some patience by now. However, the spiritual aspects of our lives, now that’s different; it can seem like forever! As I was thinking about this, during some waiting time, I came up with some ideas to help us, especially in our Christian love walk … it’s sometimes called waiting. 

I have found that when I exercise my “patience” muscles during those wait time, I AM less frustrated over the slow-moving line. Patience brings calmness and peace to my mind and my spirit. 

When I discipline myself to think of others during a long waiting line, I see the tiredness and frustration on the countenance of clerks, cashiers and also the others in line. That’s an opportunity of the moment we can pray for them. It doesn’t have to be out loud but more to ourselves, nor very long; but I believe God hears and answers those prayers. We may not know in this lifetime what those little prayers avail in the lives of those recipients but I have a sense that God uses them to minister to their needs.  I truly believe this is one way we can walk in love toward others. 

When I find myself in times of waiting for answers to personal prayers for myself, my family, or friends, or even my Country, I do my best to stay in an attitude of worshiping God, because I know He is at work – even if I can’t see any evidence at the moment. I attend to Bible reading and searching the Scriptures that pertain to situations I’m “waiting” for. Then I imitate Jesus by praying. He never worried, so then, neither do I.  In fact, I make it an absolute resolution to NOT worry because the Philippians 4:1 and 4:6 tell me not to be anxious (worry). The society we live in now is always on a fast track of wanting things and answers fast. We must understand that even when things appear suddenly – it often is not – we just weren’t aware of God’s work behind the scenes. 

We need to understand that when we resolve to be followers of Christ, we are making a commitment to say and do what He would do and say in every situation. We need to trust God’s calling to us to come to Him and to be Jesus to the world. 

So, here it is in a few phrases:  W A I T.

Worshiping the Lord, Attending to His Word, Imitating the Jesus, and Trust in God’s calling. 

Now let’s see how many of us change our attitudes toward our “wait-times”. 

Psalm 27:14, wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord. 

Psalm 37:9, those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. 

Isaiah 30:18, for the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him.