Waiting is hard. We wait in lines. We wait online. We wait on hold. We wait for others. There’s a whole lot of waiting going on.
Maybe you’ve been here before. You make the phone call and when the connection is made, you hear a recorded voice and a menu of options. Perhaps there are so many options that you need to hit the right button to repeat them. Finally, you press that number followed by the pound or the star key. And you wait accompanied by some music which makes you wonder who chooses this music anyway. Another connection, but that too is prerecorded and gives you a few more options. Annoyed, you punch the appropriate number button a little more emphatically this time. Another wait with the same music on a loop. Finally, a live person!, who tells you to hold a moment. It's the same music but now it is just plain annoying because you’ve heard it so many times on repeat. When the music stops and a person comes on the line, it is a bit of a shock from your mental reverie of frustration as the waiting is finally over.
Waiting is hard. We wait in lines. We wait online. We wait on hold. We wait for others. There’s a whole lot of waiting going on.
How do YOU wait? Do you tap your feet or sigh frequently? Do you find small tasks to do while waiting? Do you get angry or frustrated? Or do you think “Forget this!” and opt out, choosing to hang up the phone, close the online window, or just go home?
As a maternity home ministry, we know waiting! Working with expectant moms means we wait with them for the birth of their babies. Leading up to that point, there are many, many other waits, from waiting with them to settle into the routines of the home, waiting for news about a new job or training opportunity, or waiting as they build up their savings. We want things to happen quickly and it can be hard to wait.
As a maternity home expanding into Illinois, we have grown to understand waiting on an even wider scale. Even with the committed support of thousands of individuals, hundreds of churches, two amazing districts, LWML, LCEF, countless organizations, and our LCMS Synod, we are still waiting for the home in East Dundee to open. Permits, renderings, drawings, plans, meetings, public notices and hearings, approvals, agreements…some went smoothly while others required more time. All required more waiting. Sigh. Waiting is hard.
As Christians, we know that waiting is part of God’s plan. In waiting, we develop greater trust in His provision (Psalm 33:20-22). We can grow closer to Him as we continue to pray and study His Word during the wait (Ps. 25:5). We can be refreshed in Him as He leads us through the wait (Isaiah 40:31). We can witness to others (Ps. 105:1-4) that our God has perfect timing, whether we can see that or not. Sometimes, when the wait is over, we can look backwards, and with God’s help, we can see blessings that happened as a result of waiting!
Praise God in the waiting!
Redeeming Life Outreach Ministries is headquartered in Sanford, Florida where it began in 2013 with a vision and a Christ-centered maternity home to help single moms in crisis pregnancy situations who courageously chose life for their unborn babies. Several years later, RL opened a transition home to allow moms and babies to live in a sheltered environment while continuing to build job skills and complete educational goals before living independently. An expansion into the Chicago area is planned for 2023 with an additional maternity home opening in the northwest suburbs. Redeeming Life’s program offers moms more than just housing with the inclusion of a life skills curriculum, support for education and job skill training, a family-like setting, and the personal and spiritual support to build a successful and independent life.
For more information, visit rlom.org.
Thank you for the insightful and Biblical way to look at waiting. Proverbs 23:7 “As a man thinks. So is he”. I’m going to “think” of waiting in this way and wait to see the blessings.