Actively Waiting

This post was written last spring but is still highly applicable. We are always waiting on something, but it is what we do while we wait that counts. I hope that this is an encouragement to you.

Recently I read an article by Paul Tripp titled “God’s Will for Your Wait”. The title grabbed my attention because as of late I’ve felt like I’ve been in a holding pattern, waiting for God to give some direction.

For 3 years now I’ve been a consultant with a company called Blessings Unlimited. It’s had its ups and downs like any business venture will, but for the most part I knew where I was headed with it, or at least where I wanted it to go. Lately, I haven’t been feeling this so much. My home life responsibilities are ever growing what with trying to perfect the art of homemaking, figuring out what life looks like for our family, and now the venture of homeschooling a 1st grader and a kindergartner. Throw in a preschooler and toddler and this mama is spinning.

I had been fretting, constantly asking God what He wanted me to do. I found myself depressed and confused. I would often check FB to see what was happening on my team’s page, who was going to national conference and wondering how I could get there too. I was an awful, depressed, unproductive, mess.

After reading Paul Tripp’s message, God convicted me of what I was doing – accomplishing nothing, missing the life that I was leading right now, and making my family miserable in the process. One of the reflection questions that he gives at the end of his article is

“Has the way you wait enabled you to reach out and minister to others better? Or has it simply drawn you deeply into the claustrophobic drama of your own waiting?”

When I read this, I had to stop and seriously evaluate these last several weeks because that sounded just like what I was experiencing and it wasn’t good.

So, I’ve made a decision, with God’s grace, of course. I’m not going to passively wait and see what happens, letting life pass me by. God may not have a place for me anymore at Blessings Unlimited, but that doesn’t mean that life is over. There are so many projects and interests that I’ve let go by the wayside because I’ve been waiting on this one thing.

So, I’m going to pick up my copy of ‘One Thousand Gifts’ and finish it this summer. I’m going to finish the dresser I started to paint, start this blog that I’ve been fantasizing about, finish my jewelry holder …. well, you get the picture. I’m going to start reveling in life instead of self-pity, ’cause no one wants to come to that party.