At some point in our life, we have been in the waiting room of a hospital. We wait while we see doctor after doctor. We wait for a diagnosis of some kind. No answer. You wait some more after you visit several specialist trying to figure out what is going on.

This was me 5-6 years ago. The pressure in my chest felt as if an elephant was standing on it.

After months of doctors’ visits and test, it seemed like my time in the waiting room was ending. Doctors determined I had gastrointestinal issues due to perimenopause. This diagnosis was an answer to my prayers, and I was grateful to God it was not anything more serious.

But the gastrointestinal issues continued. Thus, my waiting did not end.

Instead, I entered a different waiting room. While waiting on God to bring full healing. I waited for God to give me strength and comfort during the pain. During that season it felt as if I was in a waiting room that had no exit.

That season of waiting was painful, confusing, frustrating, and sometimes I felt isolated, but I learned seasons as such are simply a part of life.

Think about the hours upon hours we spend waiting each week. Sometimes it is for little things like waiting for the streetlight to change, or the coffee to brew.

Then there are times the waiting is baffling and unbearable.

Waiting can feel like a weakness, especially in a culture that places a high value on making things happen.

But waiting is not a weakness!

Waiting is empowering. Yes, empowering! There is something miraculous happening while we wait.

Here is how I know:

“ Wait on the Lord….and he shall strengthen thine heart” (Psalm 27:14 KJV). This verse not only gives me courage to wait on God, but it also assures me that He is with me as I wait.

When I think back to that time 5-6 years ago, I see how God not only strengthen my heart but the heart of my family as well. Waiting was not an in-between place, but a place where real work was being done that drew me closer to God.

I do not know what you are waiting for, but I am guessing you are waiting for something.

May you be encouraged in knowing that waiting is not a waste of time. It is an investment of time. God is strengthening your heart.

May you find that God is always, always worth the wait.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, help me understand how waiting makes me stronger. Give me strength and courage in my waiting room. Holy Spirit give me wisdom to trust God’s plan beyond what I see and feel to let You do the work You alone can do. Help me to have patience while I wait on You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

PEARLStoPONDER: The most important lesson I have learned while waiting on God is to pray my way through the ‘waiting time.’

Psalm 27:14-- Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Psalm 38:15-- But for you, O Lord, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

Psalm 40:1-- I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

Psalm 46:10-- “Be still and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Psalm 130:1-8-- Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! ² O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive  to the voice of my pleas for mercy!³ If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,   O Lord, who could stand?⁴ But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,  and in his word I hope;⁶ my soul waits for the Lord  more than watchmen for the morning,   more than watchmen for the morning.⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord!   For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.⁸ And he will redeem Israel   from all his iniquities.

Isiah 40:31-- but they who wait for 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.

Lamentations 3:25-- The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.