Purposeful Hope When the Waiting Feels Crippling
The clock seems to never stop ticking and that is a hard reality to face. I know what it feels like to come to a place of desperation in waiting. The thing you want to have or the thing you hope will happen feels like it will truly never come to fruition. I have been in that place many times in my life and it can feel so isolating.
You are not alone in waiting. A mentor I have been coached by and followed online for years taught me a simple phrase I can remember often when I feel alone. She says, “God is always up to a thousand things behind the scenes for you and your family.” That phrase is so comforting and thankfully, so true.
God is Always Working While You Wait
The book of John brings such life to me anytime I read it. There is so much goodness in that book for those who are just getting to know who Jesus is or what kinds of things He did while here on Earth. It enables us to learn more of the character of Jesus. In John 13:7 Jesus brings Himself low to wash feet and He says “Behold I am doing a new thing. You do not understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”
In that society, washing feet was one of the dirtiest, most humble jobs you could do. This was just one of the beginning things Jesus did to show He went against the flow of culture, for the sake of the kingdom of God. To this day, He is still doing new things for His people to show His extravagant love. God is always up to something for us, even when we do not know what we need or what to ask for.
Hope In Waiting
It is no secret that it is nearly excruciating to sit at the crossroads where you feel you’ve waited enough, suffered enough, and gotten desperate enough while still knowing there are no answers on the horizon yet. If you’re anything like me, hope doesn’t come easy to you and you feel a bit weary trying to keep your heart in the game.
Hebrews tells us we have hope as an anchor for our souls. What can we do to stop ourselves from spiraling into impatient resentment, loneliness, or hopelessness while we wait and have no control to change our circumstances? I’ll tell you the secret…it’s now about what we can do, but about where we place our hope.
By far, the largest challenge you will have in keeping your hopes up is going to be in the intentionality about where you are putting your hope. You are not hoping in answered prayers, more prosperity, two pink lines on a pregnancy test, or your counselor’s opinion. Your lasting hope, the kind that anchors your soul, will come when you place your hope in Christ and His promises for you.
Jeremiah 29:11 – I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. (He is always working things out for you, even when we don’t see it)
Hope for the Future
One of my favorite Scriptures to repeat or reflect on is from Luke 12:32. It says, “Fear not little flock. For it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” This verse brings sincere encouragement to me and uplifts me from my weariness because it points to God’s character and hope for the future.
Our Father delights in giving us good, beautiful things (including the best of all, His kingdom). He goes before us and is preparing a space for us to dwell in unity with Him in His presence forever (John 14:22). If He can do that, how much hope should we have for what He can do here and now? Heaps of hope, if you ask me.
While we are here seeing through a glass half full, in a world that is broken, God is still working all things together for us (1 Corinthians 13:12). He works all things out, through, and together (Romans 8:28) And we have the promise of knowing even if it all goes wrong here on Earth and the answer we forever receive is still “no,” there is more coming. A beautiful ever after.
Closing this blog post out with prayers of blessings for you, friend. Waiting is not in vain. Suffering does not return void. And God is not absent to hear the sound of your voice, even in the waiting. Get your hopes up; again & again, & again. Good things are coming.
Wishing you peace that surpasses any doubt you’re wrestling with while you wait!
Xoxo,
Meredith
