I hope you are ready to wrestle some more. You could say this blog is Part Two from last Tuesday’s blog. We discovered that there is purpose in the waiting. God places us in times of wondering so we will look up and as we do we become familiar with who He is. We seek Him, learn of Him from His Word and talk with Him. Our lives take on a transformation, one of beauty and grace.
He also places us in waiting times so we become aware of ourselves. Through life we learn to hide, live in incognito or be camouflaged. We learn how to act in the various roles we play. We learn how to juggle life behind masks. And because of this, God places us inside the boxing ring and we must wrestle with Him, ourselves and the enemy so His beauty and grace can shine through. He needs to strip away our worldly and self-confident ways so that we will look to Him instead of ourselves or others.
Another wrestling move of God’s is preparation. While we wrestle with God, we come to know Him and we become more like Him. We also realize that He is preparing us. He makes us ready for what lies ahead. When we walk with Jesus, we never walk alone anymore. He is always with us and the Holy Spirit moves us forward thus we need to learn to develop a listening ear.
Like I shared in last week’s blog, God prepared me with my daughter before she was born. As I look back, He was teaching me that what He says is trustworthy for He knows the future and that I can trust in what He tells me. He has been faithful to His word every single time. There has never been a time where He has contradicted Himself. He has given me countless times where He speaks and eventually I see His words come to fruition. He seems to have a way of building my trust in Him. He has definitely shown me that I can go to Him for anything!
I have two other pertinent times where God spoke to me and prepared me for what lies ahead. One was with my mother. She was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. During the beginning phase of discovering what stage she is at and what the prognosis would be, I was heading to a women’s luncheon with some friends. While living eight hours away, my heart was heavy for what she would have to go through. I turned on the radio in my car and “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy Me came on. I began crying as I listened to the words. The Holy Spirit led me in that moment. I knew the timing of that song was from God for He was preparing me. “Carol, I’m going to take your mom home.” Hard words to hear, especially after I lost my dad ten years before. I did not know the timing of when God would take Mom but I knew she was heading home and eleven weeks later, during the start of Holy Week, she received her wings. God prepared me.
She is with my sister in this picture.
Another preparation time was with our puppy, Daisy. It wasn’t long after we got her when I noticed that her back legs would shake when she squatted to do her business in the yard. This was worrisome since she was our second yellow lab and our first one had hip and leg trouble. As I pondered what Daisy’s future would hold for her health, God spoke to me once again. “Carol, you will have her until she’s almost ten.” I had never forgotten that. And one month before she turned ten, she died.
Pertinent words which have helped me to look up and trust. God knows how to reveal Himself to me. He knows what will help me to remember who He is so when other waiting times roll around, I know where to turn and I know what to do. I look up and then look for Him in scripture and I wait as He unfolds His plan for me.
Three and a half years ago, God gave me more pertinent words. “God is bringing you to new place of freedom, hope and success! Hold tight to what you know is true.” I wish to say that I knew what this means but I don’t. I am in the waiting and when your waiting takes on a lengthy timeframe, it becomes easy to doubt or forget. Yet, God in His faithfulness continues to lead me in little things along my way so I continue to know I heard right. Just recently, I came across this phrase, “Don’t let time make you doubt what God told you would happen.” (reference unknown) So, I keep on trusting. I keep on believing. Not perfectly, I am afraid to admit. Anxiety gets the best of me in this wondering time and oh, how I want to take control and move things forward in my way. Read Genesis 16 to see how a woman took matters into her own hands instead of trusting God’s timing.
Where is God having you wait? It isn’t that He has forgotten you, it’s just that He is preparing you for something or He may need to align things up or it’s simply not time, His time. Whatever the reason, we can know for sure that His love has not abandoned us. He is for us and not against us. Read Romans 8:31. Stay the course as you wait.
Carol J German 