Waiting is part of everyone’s everyday process, there are very few things that end up happening exactly how we intended them to. So, if we are all presented with a period of waiting, either for a few minutes or a few years, what do we do during that time of waiting? Do we wait patiently with optimism? Not usually. Do we play out every scenario in our head that might happen? Do we get frustrated when the waiting has gone just past our timeline of expectation and start to interfere to get it done? Or do we put aside our earthly desires for control and instant gratification? Do we remember God’s goodness and faithfulness to His people, and how He has never left any of His children hopeless or alone?
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
Recently, my husband and I moved from Missouri to Colorado, about a twelve hour drive. We found out in April that we would need to move in late July or early August. We knew, from praying for many months before this about where God would send us next, that the Lord wanted us in Colorado. From there, I instantly started to create lists in my head about all the things that would need to be done before we moved. We had never moved ourselves before, so I did not know what lists to complete. With so many unknowns, I started to panic and stress about all the things I didn’t know that I didn’t know.
Thankfully, the Lord stopped by and gave me the verse Exodus 23:20.
Exodus 23:20 “Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.”
This verse instantly calmed my worries because I knew if God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt and prepared a place for them, He would fulfill His same promise for Nathan and I. But my worries did not stop after God gave me that promise. The opposite seemed to happen, more and more unanswered questions kept coming our way. Where would we live? How would we move our stuff? What day would we leave? How would our animals do if we had to stay in a hotel for a month waiting for a house? Would we be able to move because of COVID? How would we unpack our truck in Colorado since we won’t know anyone, and I am pregnant? Will all our stuff fit in the small sized U-Haul we got? Would I get morning sickness on the two-day drive to Colorado?
Time and time again I would have to stop the whirl wind of “what if’s” and remember the promise that God had give me, He would prepare a place for us. If that is what He said, that is what He will do, not in my timing but in His.
So a week before we thought we were moving we still had not received the official word that we would be able to move. Only six days before we were trying to move did we receive the go-ahead to move. On the day we were loading the U-Haul, we had things piled on the grass after the truck looked like it could not fit any more, but we kept praying and at the end of the day everything was packed and ready for the road. The day we got to Colorado we still had no place to live and knew no one to help us unload our belongings. The day after we arrived to Colorado, we received news that we were going to receive a house almost a month before we had anticipated. Two days after getting there we got invited to a Bible Study where multiple men volunteered to help us unload our U-Haul and carry boxes to any room we needed. On the third day we moved into our house (20 days before we thought we would check out of a hotel) and Nathan received an entire week off to help unpack. On top of all of this, our animals did wonderful, our vehicles did great, I had the most energy I’ve had since becoming pregnant, and my parents got to come help us unpack in our new home.
So, after four months of back and forth worrying and trying to focus on the promise the Lord gave me in the beginning, I was blown away by His provision and faithfulness. I continue to learn time and time again that nothing will be impossible with God (Luke 1:37). So please ignore the evidence in front of you, that things will not work out, or you are not prepared, or you are not qualified, because God is always working things out when you wait for Him to complete it (Lamentations 3:25). In the end, it might even be better than what you even imagined in your head.
God bless you and may your trust in Him grow daily.
Emily Bell
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