Welcome back! If you didn’t read the previous blog, I would suggest clicking HERE to catch up before proceeding.

So at the end of the previous blog, I shared a few things I learned while waiting during the planning and preparation of my mom’s funeral. It’s often during the worst times of life that God will catch our attention and if we slow down long enough, we’ll grab a lesson. I previously mentioned learning that:

• The wait can keep us focused
• The wait will create anxiety or a patient heart

I also learned that the ‘wait’ doesn’t have to be a WEIGHT. There are so many things in life that we have to have patience for; Some things easier to wait on than others. But what can you do in situations you can’t control? YOU KEEP LIVING. Regardless of your faith and beliefs, more often than not, we see everyday that life will continue to go on in the world around us, even when we have checked out and don’t want to keep moving. How do you do that?

• A great start is remember the whys of your life. Prioritize things that need to be completed, started, etc.
  • What should have your immediate focus?
  • Is what you’re waiting on a necessary part of moving forward with a certain task? (Can you focus on something else while you wait?)
• Remember that waiting is unavoidable. I was talking to someone much younger than me (20’s), who was expressing frustration about something that was yet to happen. I began to ask them about their process of waiting. I found out that they thought what they were waiting on would happen immediately, but were told to expect a certain lead time. The time allotted had not yet passed, so in my opinion, they caused their experience of waiting to be worse than it actually should have been.
• Adopt the heart of a servant. Find a way to be helpful to someone else. When we take the focus off of our issues, there is a level of joy that comes with serving others. This may also bring awareness to other things that you should be doing while you wait.

Finally, make sure you’re not creating fear that you’ll never receive what you’re waiting for. IF promised by God, he may very well be preparing you for what you’ve prayed for. Also, stop comparing yourself and your situation to others. Your process is different from everyone else’s. In the end, Matthew 6:33 reminds us to refocus: ‘But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.’

Waiting forces us to answer the question, “Where is our chief delight?” If your delight is only in whatever you see at the end of your wait, then this wilderness of life will begin to feel like a death trap. But if our delight is in God and what he has for us, then we will find that he knows how to make rivers flow in the desert. He will give us a grace in developing patience and we will learn how to wait well.

Blessings!