Dear Stuck Waiting...

Dear Stuck Waiting,

I know. I really do. You are everyone, and just you. You are hanging on to hope, about to give up, or burying your dreams. You feel like you are stuck in the middle of your story while others have reached the end of theirs. And you're not just waiting in line, waiting in traffic, waiting for your number to be called...you're waiting for something big. Something long dreamed of. Something just out of your reach.

Dearest Stuck Waiting, you could be waiting for one of many things...or many things combined. The dream job, school to finish, a husband, a baby, a house. You might be stuck waiting for that clean bill of health, that promotion, or that prodigal child to come home. Maybe what has you waiting is a deep trench of depression that you're longing to finally get out of.

You might be resentful when other people seemingly effortlessly reach their goals. You might be asking "WHY?" "Why do I have to wait, while they don't?" "Why isn't it my turn?" "WHY???" You might have your head hung low while you kick a pebble in frustration and resignation; you might think, "This won't ever happen anyway. Why hope?" Or you might be strapped into an emotional rollercoaster...pulse racing, chugging up the hill of "Maybe This Time!" only to hurtle down the steep incline of "Nope, not this time." That negative pregnancy test. That big repair that wipes out your savings. That rejection letter from that college...somehow they have a way of taking you low. So low that you want to get off the ride.

Isn't there something that feels so vulnerable about waiting? It's as if the hard exterior you carry through life is null and void when you think about your dreams. That titanium shell around your heart is replaced by a fragile egg shell, and it won't take much disappointment for it to crack. And when it breaks, it takes so much effort to clean up the mess. Yet, you still wait.

Stuck Waiting, you show courage. Because it takes a heart containing the least amount of courage to continue to dream. Disappointments bash your built up dreams against the rocks of adversity, and yet you choose to build again. You are a stouthearted soul. If all that is left of your desires are embers, please allow me to put a few logs on for you.

Waiting doesn't have to be a powerless place where you get weaker with each passing minute. It doesn't have to keep you at a stand-still. Waiting can be a place of strength.  It's like a gym where atrophied faith muscles can be conditioned, toned, and built. Although sweat is poured out, and you don't think you can hold on for much longer, little by little you are getting stronger. With each passing moment, waiting can add inches of pure, lean muscle to your flagging faith if you place your hope from your dream to your All Powerful God.

So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit. Galatians 6:9

But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind. Isaiah 40:31

You don't have to be Stuck Waiting anymore; for there is nothing "stuck" about waiting on God. You are in constant motion. You are leaning into God's goodness; you are Strengthened in Waiting. May this waiting season find you not aimlessly flapping your wings, but stretching them and letting the warm currents of God's strength lift you up- conserving your energy, increasing your altitude, and letting you see the bird's eye perspective. This is a wait that will not go to waste.

Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. Psalm 27:14