Living in the In-Between: Learning to be Content While You Wait

Friends, you have been on my mind lately, and on my heart. As I have sat before the Lord over the last few days, your faces and circumstances have played before my mind's eye. And I began to notice a common thread woven delicately between each story...

So many of you are living in the in-between.

Waiting. 

For some of you, you are living out your days in a season of singleness. Anxiously awaiting for the Lord to fulfill His promises to you- the promise of marriage- of a family. You watch as friend after friend change their status on Facebook from "single" to "in a relationship," and while you rejoice in their happiness, you quietly question God's timing in your life.

"Why am I still waiting, Lord?" you plead. "How much longer until you fulfill Your promises to me?"

Others of you spend your days searching endlessly for a job. Desperation is beginning to set in. You wonder where God- Jehovah Jireh- Our Provider is in the midst of your struggle. You keep your phone close at hand as you wait for the call that will change your circumstances. And while you wait you silently cry out to the Lord, "How much longer?"

Perhaps you are the one who sends your devoted husband to the store month after month to pick up a fresh box of pregnancy tests, only to deposit them into the trash moments later when the tiny stick reads, Not Pregnant. You have been waiting for years to add on to your family, and while your doctor assures you that you are not infertile, your womb remains as barren as ever.

Or maybe you are waiting for a specific phone call from the doctor. One that will determine your course of action as the illness sets into your body. You know your days are numbered, and you wait expectantly to see how much time remains.

She has been legally declared your daughter. Yet due to international adoption policies and political red tape, she continues to sit and wait for you to come and bring her home. Thousands and thousands of miles separate you. More than anything you long to hold her in your arms. You are growing weary of the Lord whispering to your restless soul, "Not yet, Dear One. Not yet."

"Why is this taking so long, Lord?"

You have been in a state of transition throughout your entire marriage. Never have you found a place of your own to call "home." You are beginning to question this nomadic lifestyle God has currently called you to- desiring nothing more than a place for you and your family to settle down. Somewhere you belong. Somewhere you feel connected. Somewhere you feel loved.




Waiting.

For me and my family, we are waiting for several things to take place. We know the direction the Lord has called us to go in, but we are waiting for the means to get there. It has been a long, painful journey thus far. We are growing tired and weary. Restless. Impatient. Wondering ourselves, "How long must we wait, Lord?" 

He has revealed a great deal about His character to me while I'm waiting. And I sense that there is much, much more that He would like to share with me, if I would only learn to be content while I am in this season.

So, dear friends, will you journey with me? Will you join me as I search the Scriptures and sit at the Lord's feet, to discover the secret to being content in the in-between stages of life? I hope you will.

Each Monday I will take you through God's Word as He addresses the condition of our hearts during the seasons of waiting. I have learned so much already and I am eager to hear what else God has to share with me.

 I do not have all of the answers. Not by a long shot. I struggle-daily- with waiting contently on the Lord. So I hope that you would view this as something of a journey that we would take together. Hand in hand, as we wade through this difficult season of life.