We are all waiting for something. I am sure of it.
I wait for this season of Covid to subside so I can interact with people and travel again. I wait for my year-old foot injury to heal so I can walk and hopefully even run again. I wait for the dust to settle on my prolonged workplace reorganization.
BUT – sometimes waiting bears fruit.
This is a story of hope in the waiting –a story about finding out about our daughter.
Wait For the Lord
By most standards, it’s early- but in Arizona’s summer, early is worth it. This day I put on my silky housecoat and sauntered into the kitchen. I put two chocolate protein muffins onto bright orange ramekins. Then, opening the door to the crisp air, I made my way to our breakfast nook in the far corner of the yard.
As I sat waiting for Bayram to come out with fresh ground coffee, a verse came up as a notification on my phone. It said, “Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord” (Psalms 27:14)! …Sometimes the “YouVersion” App sends me a notification with the ‘Verse of the Day’. The strange thing is this particular verse was NOT the verse of that day –It seemed like a mistake. I had just finished the morning “story” about that day’s verse in the app, so I know it was not actually the verse of the day.
In that cool morning air, I knew that verse was a promise from God. I had a strange assurance that perhaps our wait was over.
We had been ‘waiting’ 10 months to get pregnant. This verse on waiting seemed to be an all too direct correlation to a verse my Mom had given me earlier in my wait.
Months ago, when my Mom had found out we were ‘trying’ she had given me a plaque. It said: “Pero los que esperan en el Señor, Renovarán sus fuerzas …” Depending on your version you are reading, in English that translates to “those who wait (of hope) upon the Lord, will renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31).
Was our wait over?
That very day we were planning to leave on a 6-week road trip. I had planned to head to the store to get some band-aids for my all too long injured foot. While I was there, I picked up a pregnancy test as well. Turns out my premonition was confirmed– I was pregnant.
Attitude in the Wait
We proceeded with our road trip plans heading to Utah en route to Idaho and the Sawtooth Mountains (I wrote about the incredible Sawtooth Mountains here: Skip the National Parks: Head to the Sawtooth Wilderness!).
Our first Adventure of the trip? —Climbing Mt. Nebo!
The irony was again not lost on me! In the Bible, the Israelites get released from being slaves in Egypt and then spend 40 years wandering the desert on the way to the promised land (ok, compared to that, my 10 months of ‘waiting’ were super short ;)). It took them longer than anticipated because of their complaining. THEN Moses, who had selflessly led them to this point, was banned from entering the promised land because he got frustrated.
Moses had trusted God continually, but in one moment of anger, he struck the rock, rather than speaking to it. The people had been complaining about the lack of water, and the second time this happened, God told him to speak to the rock, and water would come out. Instead, Moses struck the rock twice with his stick in anger over the complaints of the people.
He was still believing God…but his attitude got in the way! Because of this he was not allowed to go into the promised land, but could only look over it from the top of Mt Nebo.
What a lesson— While Moses was fully leaning into God for the fulfillment of His promises, he was not fully trusting in Him for the ATTITUDES in between. As we stood at the top of Mt Nebo I had to pray for strength to lean onto God fully in my attitudes during the wait for my promised land.
Waiting Rooms are Birthing Rooms
Little did I know what all this season of waiting would bring. Not the least of this was waiting for a year old foot injury to heal after surgery.
At this time, I read the wise words of an Instagram post by Ann Voskamp.
“All this waiting isn’t destroying us —it’s growing us.
Waiting is the patience of the long-suffering, of letting go. Letting go of the plan, the dream, the map, the vision.
Letting the ground of things, the things that made our ground, letting them give way.
Waiting is letting go to let something else grow.
Waiting rooms are actually birthing rooms & what feels like the contraction of our plans can be the birthing of a greater purpose.”
~ Ann Voskamp
As you wait for your ‘thing’, whatever that may be, I pray that you may run to God and trust fully in His hand in your life.
I pray your trust runs so deep that even though the ground falls from beneath you, your attitudes may not preclude you from entering your promised land.
…and that you may be filled with HOPE.
