On Waiting Well

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24 ESV)

Have you ever been in a season of waiting? I’m sure you have. We all have.

My husband and I have been in a season of waiting for fourteen years. Our dream since we were married has been to purchase land and design and build our own home. We knew we wouldn’t be able to do it right away, but we started making plans from the beginning.

We bought our starter home in 2005 and planned to be there about seven years—give or take a year or two. However, not long after we bought it, our dreams of being ready to build in seven years crashed along with the housing market.

Waiting.

Fast forward to 2017 when we finally purchased our land that will someday be home to our future house. During the intervening twelve years, though, there was a lot of waiting.

Waiting for the housing market to restore to health.

Waiting for our savings account to mature.

Waiting to find the right property.

We started actively looking for land in 2015, and we spent many Sundays after church driving around in search of a property that had everything we wanted. I spent hours on Zillow as I daydreamed about our someday home.

After finally purchasing property in 2017, we began working on our home’s design. While we already had an idea of what we wanted, we could do only so much preliminary work without knowing the layout of the land.

We spent many days moving blocks on a computer screen to figure out exactly what we wanted in our future home. I began to notice everything in my friends’ homes and ask them, “What do you love about your house?” and “What is one thing you would change if you could?”

We went from moving blocks to finalizing every little detail. It was a lot of work, and it took a lot of time, but eventually, we finished our part of the design process.

The next step was having blueprints done. We anticipated this taking a few months, and we were hoping to break ground in the summer of 2018. Unfortunately, summer came and went without our blueprints being completed. Every part of the process was taking longer than we expected and ultimately led to more waiting.

When the blueprints were ready, we sent them to three builders who had expressed interest in being our general contractor. However, when the date to submit bids passed and we hadn’t received one single bid, we realized the hope of breaking ground that fall wouldn’t happen. We would need to wait through the winter.

Waiting.

This past January, we sent our plans to three more builders, and three more times we received no bids.

More waiting.

When we’re in a season of waiting, we can wait different ways. We can wait with patience and expectation of what God is going to do, trusting in his timing; we can wait in frustration and disobedience; or we can wait “on hold.”

That last option was where I was—living on hold. Much of my life began with the phrase, “When we move into the new house . . . ”

• We will invite more people over.
• We will join a small group with people in the area.
• We will get a new mattress. (You don’t even know how badly I needed a new mattress.)
• We will get a puppy.
• We will volunteer more at church.

Then, during a conversation with my husband, I had an emotional breakdown. I don’t recall what the overall conversation was about, but at one point, through tears, I blurted, “I’m tired of living my life on hold!”

While I wouldn’t have been able to verbally express what I was feeling before that moment, I knew once those words came out that living my life on hold was exactly what I had been doing. While I had been doing my best to wait and trust on the Lord, it was like I had hit the pause button on my life, unable to experience gratefulness or joy for the current moment.

Living life on hold isn’t healthy, and it’s not God-honoring. By having my eyes focused on “tomorrow” and what the future would bring, I lost the joy in today.

Live for Today

After that conversation with my husband, we decided we could indeed get a new mattress now; we didn’t need to wait. We also welcomed an eight-week-old Golden Retriever puppy into our home, the most adorable pup ever. We stopped putting off until tomorrow and started living for today.

While I still struggle with the waiting process, I’m choosing to focus on the joy and the gift of today. Every day is a gift, and I need to live it to the fullest.

Dear heavenly Father, thank you for today. Thank you for the gifts and the blessings you have poured down on me. Help me live today to the fullest and keep my eyes focused on you, not tomorrow. Whatever the circumstance or situation I’m in, give me the strength and patience to wait well, for your timing is perfect. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Scripture for Reflection

Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34 NIV)

Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. (Psalm 145:2 NIV)

Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3:13 NIV)

Reach for More

Are you currently in a season of waiting? How are you handling it? Are you living with patience or battling frustration? Whatever the circumstance, look to Jesus and focus on the joy of today.

Heather Gerwing is a homeschooling mom of four. She is a Jersey girl at heart but now lives in Michigan with her husband Jeff and their kids. Heather enjoys reading, coffee-ing, worshipping and writing. She is passionate about her family and living the full life. You can find her at heathergerwing.com.

Photograph © Sven Mieke, used with permission