Anticipation…
Seems our lives are spent with a lot of time periods of wanting and waiting. This time of year, especially! Long lines in stores as we hustle around looking for the ultimate gifts for our loved ones, even if we are not particularly shopping for the gifts, we still are found waiting in those lines with our regular shopping! Maybe we should just do it all online! Oh…sorry, I got in my head a little bit there…
Waiting isn’t easy, is it? So many times, personally, I have asked the Lord to take care of something and felt like I let it go, but there I am again…trying to figure out how to fix it. In Psalms 21:1-2 it says, “The king shall have joy in Your strength, oh Lord, and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips.” Then after these verses is a little word, Selah, which means to pause and think about that.
Now when you think about it, just like any other thought, you can bring life to it. When you bring life to it, you can apply it to yourself and believe it and when you believe it, things will begin to happen that you never thought possible! It is God’s desire to give us the desires of our heart, but we sometimes must be patient for the perfect timing of these things to come to pass. A child isn’t born without going through the birthing process, a house isn’t lived in without first being built, and a motorcycle isn’t ridden until it comes out of the factory completely put together. So it is with even the smallest details and situations of our lives. We just simply must learn how to be patient in the waiting. And sometimes waiting some more and a little bit more…tap…tap…tap.
You get it. But look at what develops in the waiting. Well, besides patience, there’s strength, endurance, self-control, faith and when the day comes and the answer is there, or the problem solved or the provision is met…a flood of relief comes crashing down like the Hoover Dam just broke loose and you are dancing in the overflow! So, the waiting, while a little testy at times, is still worth it because the outcome is always better than what we could ever ask or think!
When I was in the 6th grade, I wanted Go-Go boots (showing my age here) for Christmas. It’s all I asked for, and being the youngest of six kids, third girl, I always had my sisters hand me downs in everything! I thought Christmas would never get here! Finally…Christmas morning, as I opened my gifts, I not only got the boots, but I got my very first complete outfit! Jacket, slacks, skirt, and blouse! Thin corduroy, dark purple with flowers! I was in heaven and let me tell you ‘Miss These Boots Were Made for Walkin’ had met her match!! Do you see? The outcome was better than what I could ever have anticipated!
So, here’s the bottom line…Every word written in the Bible is there for us. Every promise written and spoken by God is there for us. Nothing written in the word of God is to be taken as just a story or as meant for another. It is meant for you, and it’s meant for me. We just have to be patient enough to wait for Him to bring everything He has for us to pass at just the right time so that we don’t get too far ahead of where we need to be or so that we don’t hurt ourselves in the process.
Just a little bit of Jesus ‘n’ ME Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas from the Gilbert Household!
Mary G.
