Anxiously Waiting

Hello blessed child of God, I hope you’re fine by His Grace.
Have you ever expected something for so so long, and once you got it, it wasn’t complete, thus you started expecting for something else to complete it and never felt satisfied?
I have, and that’s probably why today, I want us to learn a little bit on “The Wait”.
Have you ever noticed how patient God is? Here are a few examples :

• When the devil deceived Adam and Eve, God didn’t carry out His restoration plan immediately, He didn’t carry out His revenge against death and sin immediately either. He waited for years and years before sending Jesus Christ to die for our sins and to redeem mankind. God is patient.
• When God finally sent Jesus Christ on earth to die for our sins, He didn’t send Him to die immediately, but He sent Him as a baby. He waited for 33 long years to complete His plan. God is patient.
• After Jesus’s resurrection, He didn’t go back to Heaven immediately. He stayed on earth for 40 days. God is patient.
• Also, He didn’t send The Holy Spirit on the disciples directly. He waited for 50 days after His resurrection before sending His Holy Spirit because He is patient.
• When Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave, Joseph didn’t become prime-minister of Egypt immediately. God let Joseph wait for years before there was any significant change in his situation. God is patient.
• When Israël kept sinning against God He didn’t destroy them all, He gave them time to repent, and this on so many different occasions. God is patient.
• When God saved us as we accepted Jesus Christ in our lives as personal Lord and Saviour, He didn’t directly take us to Heaven with Him (this doesn’t happen to everyone). We’re still here on earth learning to submit to Him. He didn’t take us with Him immediately. God is patient.
• Even when we sin and fall short of His glory, He doesn’t send us straight to Hell. His Holy Spirit convicts us so that we repent and teaches us to stay away from sin. God is patient.

In general we want everything to be instantaneous.

• If we need money we want it now
• If we want to get married we want it to happen now
• If we want a new car we want it now
• If we want children we want them now

None of these things is bad in itself. Building a godly marriage, caring for God-given children, having funds to pay for a house or a new car, none of these is bad. In fact, those are Godly desires.
The big issue comes up while we’re waiting for these things, and how we’re waiting for them.
I have to admit that I’m guilty of this. I’m not good at waiting, at all. I say this because I have developed the habit of waiting anxiously. This isn’t good.
God has shown us time and again that He is patient. He takes His time when He does His stuff. It doesn’t mean that He’s not excited about doing it, or that it won’t be spectacular, it just means that He knows what He’s doing and He’s working out everything in the background for the result to be perfect.
Habakkuk 2:2‭-‬3 MSG

And then God answered: “Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what’s coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn’t lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time.

God will have you wait
At times it’s painful to hear this, but it’s true. God will have you wait. For some time, for a long time or for a short time. Your definition of long time may not be the same as His, but He’ll have you wait.
2 Peter 3:8‭-‬9 NIV

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

The biggest issue while waiting is usually that we’re anxious about “Will it really happen?” and the anxiety increases even more when we look left and right and see people achieving what we’ve been praying for.
Examples

• “I have been praying for years to get married, and there she is, she wasn’t even interested in getting married but she’s getting married before me”
• “We were engaged before them, but they got married before us. They had their families’ blessings before us, they had the funds before us”
• “I’ve been praying for a promotion in this company, and my rival is the one getting it”
• “I have studied so much for this test and I prayed for my results to be nice, but those who cheated had it better than me”
• “We’ve been married for years and trying to have kids, we’ve still not succeeded but these two just got on honeymoon and they’re already pregnant”
• “I prayed for this new car but my neighbor is the one having it”
• “I started my church way before him, I graduated as a pastor before he even started in ministry, but his church is bigger than mine”
• “I sing better than her, why was she chosen for the tour and I have to remain singing at Church? ”

Can you relate?
Comparison will make you even more anxious, and will stop you from enjoying the wait.
Yes, I wrote “wait” and “enjoying” in the same sentence.
Philippians 4:6‭-‬7 NLT

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

It’s totally possible to wait joyfully, to wait in joy, to wait while enjoying it.
Waiting anxiously has never ever been God’s plan for you.
I’ll give you an example to illustrate my point.
God bless my mom and my dad infinitely. Every single year for my birthday, they offer me a wonderful cake (chocolate cake 99.999 % of the time because I love chocolate). Every year while my birthday is coming up, I don’t wait for my cake anxiously, I know I’ll have it God-willing, I’m just so excited because I start imagining its taste, I try to imagine what it’ll be like to take pictures altogether while singing “Happy Birthday to you”. I don’t wait anxiously, I enjoy waiting, I wait with great expectations, and I have never been disappointed. I don’t even waste time comparing my birthday cake with that of anyone else because I know that it’s their birthday and mine is coming up soon. I know I’ll have my cake God-willing, thus I’m good.
It’s the same thing with God. He’s already planned out the gift, He’s preparing it for us since a very long time, it’s so special and so wonderful. We can be sure that we’ll have it. He wants us to wait with excitement, and joy. He wants us to expect the best and to imagine how wonderful it will be. He doesn’t need us to compare with anyone else because our blessing is our blessing and theirs is theirs. Ours is coming and their blessing doesn’t mean we’re cursed.
God wants this ”birthday mindset” in us while we’re waiting.
What usually makes us anxious is the fact that we ask ourselves if God is really going to make it happen for us. At times we think our past sins, our shame, our dysfunctions disqualify us from our ”birthday cake” (blessing).
Let me tell you something. The fact that you screwed up doesn’t change your “birthday” (blessing). It was appointed by God before you screwed up, and it’s still appointed by God. If you’ve confessed your sins and received His forgiveness and purification, you don’t have to live in guilt, shame and fear anymore. You’re free, and don’t you dare worry about your “birthday cake” (blessing). It is coming, it’s on its way.
Decide today not to wait anxiously anymore, not to wait by killing yourself with comparison any more. Instead enjoy the wait.
1 Peter 5:7 NIV

Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you.

If you don’t learn to enjoy it now, even when you’ll get what you were praying for, you won’t enjoy it because you’ll be praying for something else which you will still have to wait for.

• You were worried because you were praying to get married. Now you’re married and worried because you’re praying to have kids.
• You were worried because you were praying to pass an exam to finally be recognized as a medical doctor. Now you’re a medical doctor and you worry about not being fired for negligence.
• You were worried because you were praying for a new and higher home, now you’re worried because you’re praying for money to pay the bills for that home.

It’s never going to stop. You’ll spend all your life praying and waiting for something. If you don’t learn to enjoy yourself and to be content and happy while waiting, you never will and you’ll spend most of your life feeling stressed out, anxious, miserable, and comparing with others.
At times God will prolong your waiting season not to punish you for anything but to teach you to enjoy yourself while waiting.
Decide today to wait with joy, and excitement, and without comparing yourself to others, knowing that God is preparing a big surprise for you and that it’ll be even better than what you could ever imagine.

Prayer

Father Lord God Almighty, I confess I poisoned my waiting season with anxiety and comparison. Forgive me Lord. As from today I choose to wait with joy and excitement, knowing that what You have prepared for me is way more wonderful than what I even imagine while I’m praying for it. Transform me by the renewing of my mind so that as from today, my waiting seasons won’t be endured but enjoyed expectantly, in Jesus Christ’s Name. Amen.

What Do you Think ?

Tell us what you think on the topic of waiting anxiously. Has it ever happened to you? Please leave us comments to tell us how you deal with anxiety.
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Thank you so much for reading
God bless you
Victoria Eyog