Waiting for answers to prayer, waiting for things to change, waiting for the miracle. Waiting is the hardest thing for me to endure. But recently I have been so very encouraged by you, by fellow bloggers. Unbeknownst to you, you have left love notes on my path. I especially loved Aaron's description of waiting as "waiting slow" (He Said What?!). Yes, Aaron, waiting is so, so slow. I want to share with you some of these "love notes" in the hope that they will encourage you too.
"The point is, when we are waiting slow it's so important not to place our hope in whatever answer we want from God, but instead to place our hope in God Himself. He will do what is best, in His time. We can trust Him to do that!" -- from He Said What?! Waiting Slow
"It takes a lot of faith to keep walking in the silence. In those moments, we have to trust the promises more than our perception. We must lean into His all sufficient grace for strength because the silence can be overwhelming. Proverbs 3:5 reminds us, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know" (GNT). Remember that perception is not always reality. We are easily fooled and our feelings like to discrete our emotions and what we think we know. Yet perception can fool us. That's why we can't lean on, rely on or always believe what our perception is telling us. We can however, trust in the Lord with all of our heart. We can trust in His character over the silence we experience. He has never left us or abandoned us, nor will He ever. In the silence we experience a greater grace and revelation from God than is ever possible when we feel and experience His presence. Will you keep walking and trusting in the silence or will you give in to the perception that God has left you alone? Trust in Him with all your heart. You will hear His voice again. You will experience His presence again. He has not left you alone. He is still standing in the struggle with you." -- from Chris Hendrix, Perception Isn't Reality
"There are times when things look very dark to me–so dark that I have to wait even for hope. It is bad enough to wait in hope. A long-deferred fulfillment carries its own pain, but to wait for hope, to see no glimmer of a prospect and yet refuse to despair; to have nothing but night before the casement and yet to keep the casement open for possible stars; to have a vacant place in my heart and yet to allow that place to be filled by no inferior presence–that is the grandest patience in the universe. It is Job in the tempest; it is Abraham on the road to Moriah; it is Moses in the desert of Midian; it is the Son of man in the Garden of Gethsemane. There is no patience so hard as that which endures, 'as seeing him who is invisible'; it is the waiting for hope." -- Charles E Cowman (blogged by Beholding Him Ministries, Wait for the Hope of Righteousness)
If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for him. He is worth waiting for. -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Treasury of David, Psalm 130
"The endurance of darkness is the preparation for great light." -- John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul
"Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14
Photo and blog copyright by Sheila Bair
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