Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6 (NIV)
I’m a fairly patient person, at least when it comes to standing in line at the grocery store. I’ve been known to sit at the doctor’s office for a couple hours, waiting. Waiting with patience and calm, while my kids grew antsy. But with this writing thing, yeah, I’m finding my patience is very limited.
It’s not that I stomp my feet, huff and puff, and make crude remarks (I’ve seen people behave that way while they’re waiting in line). Instead, doubt creeps in as to whether or not I’m on the path God has chosen for me, which leads to me crawling in a hole somewhere. I really dislike not being in God’s will.
But God is so amazing. I’m often left standing in awe as He shows me how much things, that might seem trivial to others but matter greatly to me, matter to Him, too. Jesus gives a great example of this when his mother comes to him about the lack of wine at the wedding banquet. The time to publicly reveal his ministry had not yet come, but for some reason the situation mattered to his mother and Jesus chose to honor this small thing. It’s no mistake that this particular example of God’s caring for the small things is found in the Gospel of John, a gospel that tends to reveal more fully Jesus’ love and compassion for mankind.
Anyway, what should have only been a 2-3 month wait on a response for one of my stories has so far turned into 5 months. And just as I was beginning to get down on myself and doubt this whole writing journey, God began sending me little bits of encouragement through messages from other people, daily devotions and/or sermons. The constant message from Him is, “wait and trust Me on this.”
So even in my excitement and wanting to know (the not knowing is always more difficult), I’m choosing to practice patience and continue on the path I believe God is leading me toward. I’m choosing to not be anxious and choosing to continue giving thanks for the gift He’s chosen to bestow upon me. AND, I’m choosing to continually lift my requests to Him, yes, even my writing.
4 responses to “The Waiting Is Never Easy”
Christina,
I, too, suffer with doubt when things don’t go exactly as I’d hoped. A project that starts out with a raging fire of enthusiasm fades to a dull glow and I wonder if I’m really on the right track.
So much of life is about waiting. I know from the personal experience of growing up on a dairy farm that there is very little in life that happens instantly. Calves, crops, winter, summer, spring…. They all take time to develop, to move from inception (or conception) to delivery to ultimate fulfillment.
I’m not sure when I unlearned that life lesson, but sometimes it sure seems like I have.
Thanks for reminding me of it once again!
Carrie,
I think so many of us have grown up in a fast food world that we forget some things do take time. We smell nuggets and drive to the local fast food place for instant gratification. Seeing our stories publish doesn’t happen that way for most us. I understand why writers compare writing a book to labor and childbirth. 🙂
That’s not why I compare my writing to labor and childbirth.
I compare my writing to childbirth because so many of my stories arrive breach. Something toward the end, something toward the beginning, maybe something in the middle, then back to tweak the beginning….
LOL! I’ve never thought of it that way, but it does seem to fit. 🙂