The Season of Waiting
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If I were to make a list of my least favorite things to do, I'm pretty sure waiting would rank in the top five. There aren't many things I enjoy less than remaining in that agonizing place of staring my hopes and longings in the face and wondering how, and when, and if God will ever allow them to come true.
"Why doesn't anything just happen for me?" I often find myself grumbling, tired of waiting, tired of trying to hang onto hope as the months and years slip away and so many questions remain unanswered. I long for a breakthrough in a tedious career that does little to spark life in my heart. I struggle to find a meaningful purpose to center my life around. I wonder when God will finally bring the right man into my life to love and be loved by. I look inwardly at all the healing, growth, and freedom I've yet to experience and wish God operated on my timetable instead of his.
So many times I've begged God to finally reach down from heaven and move, speak, act, shine a light on my path. But so often when I go to him with my questions and restlessness, he doesn't reveal anything instantly. Yes, he brings hope, he renews my faith, and he gives me strength to keep going.
But in that gentle, quiet voice, he also speaks the words I've heard over and over again … my daughter, wait.
And so I do. And as the years pass by, I'm finally beginning to realize it's in these seasons of waiting and being still before God, pouring out my heart before him, that he does some of his greatest work. It's in the desert, the wilderness, the quietness that God can restore hope and vision and deepen my character. It's in waiting that I get to know God's heart more intimately and finally begin to realize he is my life.
Here are a few of the things I'm learning as I continue to walk through my own season of waiting.
Don't try to do life alone.
There was a time when I struggled through life on my own, too scared and stubborn to let anyone in. Although meaningful relationships were the one thing I longed for above anything else, I was terrified of being rejected. And so I became known as the girl who never admitted a need, never burdened anyone with my problems. If there were tears to be cried, I cried them behind closed doors. If there were hurts and fears to be dealt with, I waited until no one else was around. I was the one everyone came to with their problems, but rarely would I risk letting them see the wounds in my own heart.
Thankfully God didn't let me stay there, but it's been a long, slow, painful (and scary) journey to realize we were never meant to walk through life alone, and that God actually designed some of his most powerful work to happen in the context of community. If it's growth, freedom, maturity, wholeness, and restoration we're after—then people, the right people, are going to be one of the biggest tools God uses.
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Yolanda
So I totally forgot to write down the whole reason why I started the below comment ha ha. So anyway this is a continuation/side note of the below comment. Lately I have been listening to the song Whie I'm Waiting by John Waller. The words are phenominal and exactly what this article is pointing to. The song has been some major encouragement and recently I wrote down the lyrics and posted it above my desk to remind me. Listen to it when you get a chance.
Yolanda
I just came across this site and already in just an hour it has been such a blessing. I have been all over the site, clicking on different links, reaching articles on different topics and recognizing that others feel the way I do (something I already knew in my heart but needed to hear/read). I related so much with the first paragraph of Don't Try To Do Life Alone. Even as I'm reading through the comments made I realize how many women this article has touched. Even as a woman in ministry leadership and a person who speaks often at women's events sometimes leanring to not be the hypocrit is the hardest truth. We are not mini-gods we are merely His creation, but a beautiful creation indeed.
Jewel
I really thank God that there are such sites. I thank you for sharing this piece. As I read through I felt like it was I who was writing it from the very beginning. I have learnt a lot especially under "do not walk alone" I am so good at being 'miss perfect', never asking for help, never being a bother, carrying my heavy heart by myself and solving all problems by myself. Thanks for sharing that somethings are perfectly set to be done communally! Sometimes I have wondered if God has any plan to give me a mate. I feel very encouraged when now I know I am not alone :) I pray that God May teach us the lessons we need to learn, I pray that God may use us to be a blessing and to be in ministry wherever we are at,as we lay here in waiting.
Jackson (Nigeria)
Praise God! Find words of encouragement and learning new things, has always made to browse the net, more so, christian domains. Even before I read the various comments, I concluded that what you shared fit into my situation and circumstances surrounding me. Though I've not been good at keeping a journal, but whatever I desire and think about I always later find myself in. God has been faithful in every way, and His assurance keeps me going in the face of odds. Friends, relatives, colleagues and the rest will want to make you loose hear and take on alternative approach, but His assurance never allowed me, even at my own contrary desires, to miss it. At times I wonder what I am doing in a women site, but I've been learning a lot of things that when I finally find the love I needed, I would have been more equipped. Thanks a lot, and God bless you.
Annette
Powerful...I too am in a season of waiting. I get "Stuck" sometimes and I wonder if God knows I am waiting. God knows everything about me past,present,future.I just don't know. Reading this has made me realize I am not the only one waiting. I wait in excited anticipation. I know God is moving in my life but I have to learn to be still and listen.
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