Sowing Seeds of Patience

7 WAYS TO WAIT WITHOUT WASTING TIME

 

What are you waiting for?

  • The pandemic to end?
  • An end to political upheaval?
  • Economic security?
  • Healing?
  • A mended relationship?
  • Some other answer to prayer?

For me, it is waiting for God’s timing to submit my inspirational-romantic-suspense novel. About five years ago when I completed Silent Pleas, I sensed the Lord direct me to “wait,” to specifically not send it off to an agent or publisher. I have been sitting on it ever since. Admittedly, at first I tried to help God out by vigilantly seeking opportunities. Each time I did so, I felt a nudge to “wait.” So, I quit trying to get ahead of God, and have patiently waited for Him to do something with it.

Patiently is in italics because initially my patience included white knuckling, gritting my teeth, and hoping something would soon happen because of my obedience. Along the way, God reminded me of the Israelites waiting for the promised land. Forty years they waited, during which time they grumbled about the Lord not providing for them, even though He did.

Yikes! Forty years!!! That made it pretty clear I’d better not get too antsy and hope or expect God to hurry the process along.

Maybe rather than my book ever getting published, my gain in all this is patience. If so, it draws me closer to God and to trusting in Him. He knows best what I need, what will bless me.

 

Jeremiah 29:11 reinforces this:  “’For I know the plans I have for you,’” declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back from captivity.’” (NIV)

 

Captivity, oh dear. Have I been shackled by my hope to see my book in print? Has it kept me from the freedom of greeting each day with joy, regardless of what happens with my writing? Is this my captivity?

As much as I would like my book to be published, that could never compare to the blessings I receive in God’s plans to prosper me with hope and a future in Him. This is eternal; my book is a temporary thing which will someday pass away and be forgotten.

Have I wearied in the wait? Somedays, yes, even though I have continued to write another novel. (The wait message I sensed only applied to Silent Pleas.)

 

“But those who wait on 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.” –Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)

 

Are you weary? Impatient? These only serve to rob you of God’s peace. So, rather than waiting (a passive state) on what we want to have happen, if we wait on the Lord (an active state of depending upon God) we gain strength.

 

How can I wait on the Lord?

1.   Immerse myself in His word.

    • Make Your ways known to me, Lord; Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; I wait for You all day long.”—Psalm 25:4-5 (HCSB)

2.  Pray for His will to be done.

    • Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.—Romans 12:12 (HCSB)

3.  Be still and know that He is God.

    • Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”—Psalm 37:7 (NIV)

4.  Seek God and ask Him to change me while I wait.

    • Trust in the Lord, not in your own understanding;—Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

5.  Worship and Praise Him.

    • It will be said in that day, “Indeed, this is our God for whom we have waited that He would save us. Let us shout for joy and rejoice in His salvation.”—Isaiah 25:9 (AMP)

6.  Shift my focus from the provision to the Provider.

    • Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.—Colossians 3:2 (NIV)

7.  Thank Him for everything.

    • . . . always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.—Ephesians 5:20 (NIV)

 

Rather than expound on the above and the accompanying verses, I encourage you to spend time pondering each. Seek out additional verses for each of these 7 ways. I promise you will then be actively waiting on the Lord.

 

Prayer:  Dear Lord, I know waiting on something to happen only wastes away my day and drains me of energy. Waiting on you is an investment of my time and serves to strengthen me.

 

Thought for the Day:  “Our patience will achieve more than our force.”—Edmund Burke

 

P.S. Generally, I write my blogs a month prior to posting—time for them to marinate in my mind. Days after creating February’s message, I slipped into impatience once again. So I printed out these 7 Ways to Wait Without Wasting Time and tacked them above my computer. Daily, I revisit them, and in doing so am lifted out of impatience and transported to peace.

 

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