We are people who hate waiting. We hate waiting for people to reply to our messages, for our Amazon deliveries to take more than two days to arrive on our porch, for our food to be delivered at our table at a restaurant, or for the light to turn green when we're in a rush. We hate waiting, and we especially hate waiting on God.
But the thing is, waiting is where faith becomes a necessity.
We know God can work. We know God can make miracles happen. We know that He hears our prayers. So when we don't get an answer or our circumstances don't change and we feel stuck in this place of waiting (which we already resist), we begin to question and doubt God's goodness or presence in our life. I've been there.
When I went through a season of depression and anxiety, I begged God to save me. After weeks and months of waiting, of drowning in hopelessness, I thought He was never going to get me out of there. I didn't think I would come out of that place alive, honestly, and I almost gave up on my faith entirely, because the God I had learned about as a child didn't seem to show up when I needed Him most. But even though the waiting took longer than I had wanted or expected, that season taught me in a very raw way that God is faithful and good, always and forever. That season grounded my faith in a way no quick and easy answered prayer could.
Recently, I've been going through another waiting season. I've been praying and praying and praying for miracles in so many areas of my life, and it seems like I've been waiting for forever. But in this place of relying solely on the Lord and trusting in His plan, my faith is being rooted even deeper than before. It's not easy, and it's not always fun, but every single day, the work of the Holy Spirit is becoming more and more evident in my life even though I'm still waiting on some prayers to be answered. Every single day, I'm learning to tear down lies and have confidence that the Lord is oh so good, even when my life isn't looking like I thought it would.
And without these seasons where we have to dig in a little deeper, my faith would never be where it's at today. I would never have this intimacy with the Lord, this platform, or this peace that He has so graciously covered us with. The waiting seasons we all will face at some point in our lives are hard, but they are transformative and essential to maturing in our faith.
If you're struggling in a waiting season or feeling like the Lord is being silent, or maybe it's just been a rough couple of weeks, here are a few things that the Lord has truly encouraged me with.
The presence of silence never equals the absence of God.
It's so tempting to believe that if we don't hear the voice of God every single day, crystal clear, God has left us or we aren't close with Him anymore. But that simply is not the truth. The God we serve is ever present, continually by our side, every moment of every day. He is protecting and guiding us through everything we do, in big and little ways alike, and so even when we don't particularly feel like it, He is constant.
We're all humans, which means we're all going to feel far from God at some point, but that also means that our emotions tend to be inconsistent and change a lot. Our feelings are fleeting and finite, and they simply cannot define or determine the faithfulness of an eternal and infinite God. We have to lean on the truth we find in Scripture and the truth we've experienced in our own lives, and I have never once known God to let us down or leave us, even if our situations don't feel like it in the moment. In the grand scheme of things, our God is faithful and will never, ever, ever abandon us
A bad day (or a few bad days, or maybe even a lot of bad days) does not determine how much God loves you, how proud God is of you, or if you are glorifying the Lord.
Like I said earlier, our emotions truly are not reliable enough to determine anything about the God we serve, who is so constant and faithful. We may go through seasons where God feels far and our circumstances are so overwhelming, but nothing, nothing (no feeling, no circumstances, nothing), can change how kind our God is.
If you are feeling particularly far from God, and you're questioning if God loves you, if He's proud of you, or if you're still glorifying God, here's what I want you to know.
You ARE loved - nothing can change how much God loves you. Absolutely nothing.
If you are truly, wholeheartedly seeking the Lord, He is proud of you. You don't have to be perfect, you don't have to have it all together, but you know your heart, and so does God. As long as we are genuinely following after Him and continuing to learn how to love Him and the people around us better, God is proud of us.
We will not ever be perfect, but we glorify God the most when we are simply walking alongside Him and seeking His face. That's all. We don't need to do anything big or grand, we just have to pursue Him - and He will do the rest.
This season will lead to both a miracle and a lesson.
Our hardest, most challenging seasons are the ones where God teaches us the most important lessons. We cannot grow in our faith or as people if we don't get uncomfortable, and so if you're in a season where you feel stuck in the waiting and as if God is being silent, know that this is meant to refine you and root you deeper into His love. I know it's easier said than done, but in this place where God feels farther than ever, run harder after Him than ever before. Dive into His word and fall on your knees in prayer, because when we seek Him in this vulnerable place, we grow so much.
But the hard seasons are also the perfect setting for God to move really big mountains and make the impossible possible. Whatever you're waiting on, whatever you're praying for, know that God hears you, and although He doesn't always answer our prayers in the way we think He should, He always brings good out of every situation. And spoiler alert: that good is so much better than we could ever imagine. He is working all things together for our good and His glory, so as you continue to cling to faith, keep waiting and expecting for the miracle on the other side.
The very thing God wants to use in us is the same thing the devil is attacking.
Oftentimes, we're waiting for an answered prayer or a desire to come into fruition. We're waiting for God to use us or bring a miracle. We're waiting for the Lord to bless us with whatever He's promised us. Our waiting always has a purpose, but the devil doesn't like that.
God wants to use this waiting to strengthen our faith, to pull us closer to Himself. The devil, however, doesn't want you to get close to God, because He knows the power you have when you are connected with the Lord. He wants you to believe the lies he's feeding you, to weaken you and break you down until you give up on your faith all together.
Sometimes the areas we feel the most weak, the most exhausted, are the exact areas that Satan is trying to attack. This is why we must stand firm in our faith and on the truth, clinging to Scripture and prayer. We have to keep trusting that the Lord has a good plan and purpose in all of this struggle. We have to remember that Christ is fighting this battle on our behalf, defending us from the devil's attacks, and He has already won the war.
Thriving is not the absence of hard emotions; thriving is learning to meet God in the midst of hard emotions.
Sometimes when we go through hard seasons, we think we aren't thriving because we aren't feeling happy all the time. We think that the presence of difficult emotions means that we aren't thriving or "living our best life", but that's not true at all. If it was, our lives would become so superficial and surface level, and we'd never experience anything of true depth.
I'm learning that instead of the absence of hard emotions, thriving is learning to meet God in the middle of those hard emotions. Thriving is learning how to keep seeking God even when He feels silent. Thriving is falling to our knees at the feet of the Savior in our most vulnerable moments. Thriving always, always, always involves a connection with the Lord and walking with Him. We cannot thrive without Jesus, but we can thrive with hard emotions.
The waiting and silence is hard. It's hard to keep trusting the Lord and keeping a fire alive for Him when it seems like we're surrounded by unanswered prayers that God has seemingly ignored. I understand, and I've been in the same place, but at this very moment, God is teaching me why this season is so important. He is beginning to show me glimpses of the amazing things He will do in my heart and my life if I'm willing to get a little uncomfortable, and I am so grateful for His faithfulness through everything.
How has God provided for you or strengthened your faith through a waiting season? What did He teach you during that time? Let me know down in the comments below, and drop any prayer requests as well! I love to hear from you! :)
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