We all sometimes forget to give God a chance. Instead of waiting in faith for God to solve our problems, we get discouraged.  Instead of giving God time to help us achieve our goals, we give up.

Realize that God doesn’t make us wait to hurt us. Rather, He makes us wait in order to develop our characters.  If we didn’t have to wait for good things, we would not learn the rewards of hard work.  If we were able to solve our problems immediately, we would remain immature, expecting life to always go our way.  And if we never had to wait, we would become haughty and look down on those who don’t have it as easy as we do.

But with waiting comes great things. Not surprisingly, the Bible is full of stories of people who God blessed after a period of waiting.  Abraham and Sarah were blessed with Issac after waiting until they were senior citizens to have a baby.  Joseph waited in jail for years, only to then be promoted to the second highest government position in Egypt.  Jesus prayed and waited in the Garden of Gethsemane for the final part of his mission on earth.

Of course, waiting is hard. Very often people will say that we are supposed to wait with “expectancy,” meaning that we simply are supposed to expect that everything is going to turn out beautifully.  We are supposed to anticipate good things, like a pregnant woman waiting to give birth or an engaged couple preparing for their wedding day.  The problem with those analogies is that the baby and the wedding are highly likely outcomes.  But how do we wait with expectancy when we can’t even envision a solution to our predicament?  The key is to believe that God can create a way, even when we can’t see one.

Every one of us, from time to time, will have problems which seem unsolvable. I have certain problematic relationships in my life, and I cannot see how they will ever become positive.  Some people may have financial concerns which seem insurmountable.  Others may have professional goals which seem unattainable.  When we face those kinds of challenges, we have no choice but to wait and place our faith in God’s ability to work all things out for our good.

In my own life, I’ve had to do my share of waiting. Sometimes I’ve felt like God has been trying to teach me to be a professional “waiter” (no pun intended!).  For instance, every job I’ve ever had has involved a great deal of waiting.  I’ve had to send out resumes, hope (pray) for a response, and then if I was lucky, go through the interview process.  No job has ever fallen in my lap.  My employment has always been the product of hustling and waiting.  In fact, anything good in my life, from getting jobs to marrying my husband, has involved a period of waiting and uncertainty.

During my periods of waiting, the only thing I could do was work hard, try to do the right thing and hope for the best. Admittedly, life has not always gone in the direction that I planned.  But instead God has always sent me in the right direction for me.  He has sent me on paths that have helped me grow in decency, maturity and compassion.  When I have given God a chance, He has always done what is best for me.

If you are in a waiting period right now, give God a chance. Don’t give up on Him.  Keep working hard.  Keep trying to follow His will for your life.  Have faith that He will transform every one of your challenges into blessings.  Things may not go according to your plan.  But if you stay faithful, He will do incredible things with your life.

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