Every person who walks this earth will experience periods of waiting. One of the hardest aspects of life, the concept of waiting is frequently mentioned in the Bible. From the cradle to the grave, each of us will struggle with waiting.
What do we do in our waiting? Many of us will walk through stages of grief: anger, denial, and questioning God. As we lift up our desires, we hope, pray, and wonder when the answer will come. Not knowing the mind of God, we question whether the Lord is telling us no or to continue waiting. The apostle Paul asked God three times to remove the “thorn in his flesh.” As months and years go by, we wonder if it’s time to let go and move on.
My wife and I have been married nearly seven years. Marriage is wonderful, but the years of hardship we’ve experienced have been brutal. Most of our journey together has been bombarded with trials. We have faced job loss, near foreclosure, infertility, and years of waiting on an adoption match. When we finally got matched with a baby girl, we prepared her bedroom and enjoyed a baby shower with friends. But the adoption didn’t finalize. We sat in an empty bedroom and cried. Husbands and wives grieve differently, but the pain we share is felt to the core. I felt like I needed to be strong for my wife when all I wanted to do was fall apart.
In these difficult moments, if we are not careful, we can begin to question the goodness of God. The hymn writer William Cowper wrote the lyric, “Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.” As we dig into the Scriptures, we see that God is good, loving, and sovereign.
Our story is just beginning, and we rejoice in the daughter God has brought into our family. My wife and I can both say she was worth the wait. Our darkest days of waiting drew us closer to Christ and made our marriage stronger.
Dear friend, God is working in your waiting. You may not feel or see it, but He is working for your good and His glory. His plans are so much higher. Trust him. Waiting is hard, and some days are cruel. Lean into Jesus for your strength. He is sufficient and more than enough. In each season of life, God is working in our waiting.
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