The Art of Waiting

Life here on earth is an endless trail of waiting. There were times when I failed, I asked, “Why an all-powerful God would allow me to suffer?”

​We all have our own stories of failures and for those who are going through challenges and waiting for breakthroughs at this very moment, allow me to share the lessons I learned from failures and ruins.

When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to grow up and finish school. When I finished school, I couldn’t wait to land a job to help my family and those who are in need. When I got a job, I couldn’t wait to find my one true love. When I found him, I couldn’t wait to get married. When I got married, I couldn’t wait to have kids. I was so impatient until God taught me the art of waiting.

Every single day, we wait. Before we can eat, we wait for our food to get cooked or get served. Before we can get to our destination, we wait for a ride. Just imagine our daily commute to work if we are using public transportation. I experienced lining up at the MRT (metro) for what seemed like an eternity, those times when I left home fresh and arrived at the office panting and sweating. Lol! I bet many of my friends in Manila can relate. Even those who have their own cars have to wait in the middle of heavy traffic.

I asked my husband Brendan of instances when he needed to wait and these were his hilarious answers:
“Waiting for a woman to get out from the cinema comfort room after watching a movie.”
“Waiting for a woman to finish hopping from one shop to another.”
“Waiting for a woman to finish putting her make up on.”
“Waiting for a woman to decide which clothes to wear.”
“Waiting for a woman to get out from a very long shower.”
“Waiting for a woman’s premenstrual syndrome to end before coming out from the cave where I’m hiding.”
“Waiting anxiously for my bride to show up at the Church door.”

Friends, picture me rolling my eyes while trying not to laugh. Lol. Men have their own painful share of waiting. Haha

On a serious note, my husband said the most beautiful, yet the hardest part of waiting is this:
“Waiting for God’s plan to unfold in our lives.”

Those instances when we kept on praying for miracles to happen, for our dreams to become realities include:
A student waiting to graduate. (And yes, waiting for allowance, lol)
A board examinee waiting for the board examination result.
A single person waiting for true love. (And yes, waiting for his/her broken heart to mend.)
A woman waiting to give birth and excited to take a glimpse of her first-born.
A young professional waiting for career advancement.
A couple waiting to have their own kids.
Parents waiting for financial blessings.
An entrepreneur waiting for breakthroughs.
And the list could go on…

Now, picture these happening:
That student failed some of the subjects so he/she couldn’t graduate.
The list of board passers was announced but his/her name was not on the list.
Instead of finding true love, his/her heart just got shattered again.
That woman had a miscarriage.
That young professional got fired.
That couple was told by doctors they couldn’t have their own kids.
Instead of financial breakthroughs, the parents were laid off from work.
That entrepreneur had to close his/her business due to bankruptcy.

What a twist of fate right?

These circumstances are true stories. Now the question isn’t, “Why these things happen?” The real question is, “How can we bounce back from failures?”

God doesn’t always answer our prayers in the way we want. He wouldn’t be God if He were predictable. We should not put God in a box because His power is limitless. The Bible says, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9.
We just have to be open to God so that He can move freely in our lives, without being restricted by our preconceived notions of how God moves. Only then we will experience the glorious magnificence of God’s wisdom. If God only moves in the way we expect, then what a small God we have! We should always remember that however God may answer our prayers, we can be sure of His unfailing love.

Blaming God for the misfortunes in our lives is being disobedient to His will. Sometimes, our sufferings are caused by our wrong decisions. How blessed we are that even when sometimes we follow our own will, yet He never stops loving us! God allows challenges to come our way to purify us, to make us stronger in faith, and abiding in love.

At times we may feel that God is silent and playing deaf to our prayers. In the act of faith, the most difficult time is when we feel God remains silent. It is the kind of silence that shatters, when we are immersed in a crisis of faith. We have our moments of confusion, when everything seems dark, hopeless, and bleak. We must remember that God not only understands, He has compassion for us because Jesus Christ underwent profound agony. He experienced pain and suffering because He was fully divine yet fully human. He knows how it feels to get rejected, mocked, abused, oppressed, and all other horrible things He didn’t deserve to go through in the first place. But because Jesus Christ, in His divine love, He laid down His life for us even though we don’t deserve it due to our sinfulness. That is called GRACE.

Waiting is not just sitting on a corner and doing nothing, expecting things to happen. Waiting is doing everything that we can, giving our best shot, and then allowing God to move mysteriously and powerfully in our lives.

It is good to have plans and to look forward to a bright future, but that shouldn’t rob us from the joys of today. We must learn to live in the NOW; appreciating the blessings that God has freely given to us, even things that we didn’t even ask for. If we decide to be happy only when our dreams come true, or only when our prayers are answered in the way we want, then we are missing out the joys of today and the beauty of waiting God's way.

Let me end with this uplifting Bible verse, “But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:31

Elly Roberts is an author, speaker, and artist. She uses her God-given gifts to serve God and His people. Having experienced so much suffering from childhood, she dreams of building a foundation for abandoned kids. She has counseled many women on mending a broken heart and finding love. Her writing style is very personal, honest, humble, and inspiring.

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