How Well Are You Waiting On God?

Once I accepted Jesus as my Savior, I thought I had a brand-new lifeline to hope. My years long struggle to find contentment in life ended with me hitting rock bottom emotionally and admitting that I didn’t know how to fill the emptiness I felt. From now on, I agreed to trust Jesus with my soul and the desires of my heart.

My entrance into God’s family was more about the surrender of my pride than it was about the shame of my sin. Regardless, I was fully convicted and truly surrendered to God’s will in my life. 

Having reached this point, I thought I was done. Along with this monumental surrender, came a refreshing anchor of hope in my heart. I no longer knew where I was going, but I had faith that God knew my future and it would be bright, even if would be different than what I thought I wanted. 

Everyone has their own story of coming to faith and surrendering to Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Your narrative may look different from mine, but you and I have something in common. Our sinful nature wants to keep us from experiencing peace by convincing us that our surrender is a one and done process. 

What are you struggling with today? 

• an unhappy baby
• a ridiculously busy schedule
• a juggling act induced by multiple children
• trouble with your teen
• an unsettling conversation with your husband
• a worrying health issue
• a financial crisis
• or is it something else?

There are plenty of real-life hardships that demand our attention, and therefore a plethora of moments to surrender into God’s capable hands.

The question to you is, what is the posture of your heart while you trust Him to work in your circumstances? Another way to put it is….

 How well are you waiting on God?

If you’re like me, there tends to be a lot of hand wringing or impatience while I wait. Even though I trust God for my salvation, my mind often works overtime trying to find satisfactory solutions when life hands me unexpected circumstances. Do you know what I mean?

It wasn’t that long ago that I pulled over to the side of the road and refused to drive until my preschooler named three things that made her feel thankful. Her attitude needed an adjustment, and I was determined to make that happen. I wish I could say that I stopped the car because I prayed for wisdom and God lovingly (and instantly) complied. Truth be told, it was my own determined spirit that caused my foot to push the brake pedal and steer the car to the side of the road. Watching other vehicles pass my stationary van, I pleaded for God to work in my preschooler’s heart. I wanted to be a good mom and her complaints weren’t appropriate. But I also wanted to achieve a timely drop off so I could accomplish my errand to-do list while she was at school. Maybe my desire to facilitate a heart change in my preschooler was honorable, but my expectation on how it was achieved was selfish. I wanted what I thought was best and I wanted it on my timetable.

How do some people wait well, not just in the small inconveniences of life like my example above, but even during the big trials? 

I believe that people who have peace during their hardest adversities are people whose faith has deepened through a multitude of surrenders. They have confidence that God will supply the right solution, regardless of what they expect or think they want. While my head believes that, my heart is filled with skepticism because deep down, I want to control the outcome of my circumstances. If I had the power to resolve all my struggles, I would provide a clean solution, and that includes comfort, convenience, health, a full bank account, and no conflicts. Please God, no more conflicts with my husband or between my children!

It doesn’t take long to learn that God’s responses to our prayers don’t often look like what we expect. 

God never agreed to save us from the brokenness of this world. Instead, He promises us His presence, and He also promises that He will grow us spiritually as He helps navigate us through our unwanted circumstances. The fact that we face multiple challenges, sometimes daily, means we have plenty of opportunities to practice surrendering our desires and trusting Him to answer our prayers in the very best way possible.

So how do we develop the confidence to trust Him unconditionally, even during our most difficult trials? 

We start by focusing on a different promise that He made. Along with His commitment to help us through hardships, He also promised to be our friend.

A good friend is a treasure. This person travels with us through hard seasons accepting our fragile emotions and supporting us when we need help. Good friends can do this because they have a history with us based on experience, trust, and intimate sharing. 

If we are to know God as our friend, we must pursue Him as we would any other friend. We need to prioritize time with him. Reading His word, joining a Bible study, praying, listening to a Biblical podcast, surrounding ourselves with Christian community, and subscribing to a daily devotion are all ways we can spend time with God. We don’t need to do them all. We just need to start with one that works for us. We can wake up early, stay up late, listen to his Word in our car or while we exercise, cook dinner, or run errands. 

When we take time to know God as a friend, we become familiar with his character. Then, when the hard times come, we have confidence He is trustworthy, even when His answers to our prayers are not what we expect.

This is a beautiful picture of someone who has peace while waiting for God to work. Doesn’t peace sound nice? I don’t know about you, but I would rather have peace while trusting God with my trials than to carry the burden of worry that causes hand wringing or doubt that creates frustration.

Surrender is a habit, formed by a relationship, that requires spiritual discipline. But surrender to his will produces holiness and gives us confidence to trust God. It’s not a one and done commitment to Jesus. It’s a lifetime of yielding our will to his.

But the peace that surpasses all understanding is a gift that allows us to wait well on God, and that’s a peace that’s worth fighting for.

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” – Romans 12:18

Peace is something all of us desire. But relationships are hard. Being a mom, a wife, a spouse and friend can often lead to conflict.

How do we become peacemakers in the most challenging situations?  One of MomQ’s leaders and mentor moms, Julie Whitehurst, teaches on how we can build strong families and pursue peace by turning our eyes and hearts toward God vs. our own desires. Listen to the message below, “How Can I Become a Peacemaker?”