While You Wait

February 17, 2024

Photos taken December 3, 2023

Photos by Photography by Lumi

I flew home from school to be Maid of Honor in my sweet friend's wedding. Stephanie and JB met when Steph and I were in Uganda back in 2018. They have maintained a long-distance love ever since, accepting all the challenges of covid and restricted visiting, visas - all the things. It was a lovely day I was privileged to be a part of. I went from California to Oregon to Washington, back to Oregon and back to California in thirty hours haha! Very worth it.

I will confess to you I'm in a season that I don't like. And they say not to get on social media in times like this because you can say too much. Which I am good at. So ironically I find wisdom in silence haha although it is unnatural for me. Yet I want to offer some encouragement, dear Reader. Because I am learning much in the "silence". Silence isn't something to be afraid of. The Lord is not in a rush. So neither will I be.

This season is dedicated to prayer. Imperfectly. But that's the theme.

I was praying and He seemed silent... maybe He was inviting me to join Him. To just abide and release my ideas of control back to Him and rest.

(But I will go ahead and tell you God is not silent. He gave us a whole Book of His Voice.)

I don't know what you're waiting for. (I don't even know what I'M waiting for haha!) But whatever that storm or sleepy valley looks like for you, I say run to Jesus. Press in now, not later. Let Him fill you with His gracious Self and hold you and teach you. He will quiet you with His love and rejoice over you with singing (Zeph. 3:17), His beloved child. You are His creation, designed -- DESIGNED-- perfectly to display His strength, Reader (Psalm 139:13-14, 2 Cor. 12:9). Be a submissive vessel (Jer. 18:4, Eph. 3:20). A song I've been comforted by says, "He says 'You're mine, I smiled when I made you. I find you beautiful in every way. My love for you is fierce and unending. I'll come to find you whatever it takes, My beloved.'" (Belovedness - Sarah Kroger). Those words makes me feel like the child that I am, small and held and protected and known. Loved. You are not alone. God is in control, and I am so glad. I can rest and wait on Him as long as it takes. Forever, even.

Contemplating our Lord and the Gospel another song that's been on repeat is "As You Find Me" by Joel Piper.

I've been strong and I've been broken within a moment

 I've been faithful and I've been reckless at every bend

 I've held everything together and watched it shatter

 I've stood tall and I have crumbled in the same breath

 I have wrestled and I have trembled toward surrender

 Chased my heart adrift and drifted home again

 Plundered blessing till I've been desperate to find redemption

 And every time I turn around, Lord You're still there

 I was found

 Before I was lost

 I was Yours

 Before I was not

 Grace to spare

 For all my mistakes

 And that part just wrecks me!

 And I know I don't deserve this kind of love

 Somehow this kind of love is who You are

 It's a grace I could never add up

 To be somebody You still want

 But somehow

 You love me as You find me

Abide with Christ. He's an empathetic High Priest.

The wait is not wasted. Just because you are waiting does not mean that God is. Don't cut the wait short, good things are growing. But actively wait. Wait on the Lord's table, ready to do His bidding.

So make effort to love and serve while you wait. Make Jesus everything, like the first love you once had. And lastly, the Lord will preserve you and the Holy Spirit will guard you in perfect peace (Phil. 4:7). Wait like the persistent widow in prayer.

Stephanie and JB learned a lot about love and trust and their relationship with God while they were in a waiting season. Miles (no, worlds) apart and unsure if they'd ever make it. Everything was challenged. And yet when you cast yourself on God, they found He sustains you through the waiting. And He sustains you in the "arrival", which may be different than expected. And He sustains you beyond that in what is called a lifetime. He is faithful and trustworthy. Praise Him!

Love, Sarah