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Blog
I’m waiting...
The five-year-old waits for Christmas morning. The mom waits for a full night’s sleep. The grandpa waits to see his grandkids again.
The student waits for the semester to be over. The employee waits for a promotion. The hard-worker waits for a vacation. The stressed-out wife waits for this season of life to pass.
We are all waiting.
We wait in anticipation of what is to come. And most waiting is filled with hope and excited expectations. However, the patient that waits for news from the doctor may prefer to extend the waiting and not hear that her cancer is back. The young wife who has been trying for years to get pregnant is not looking forward to another month of waiting to see if their dreams will be realized.
We are all waiting.
In Scripture, we learn of a host of the faithful who waited and never got to see what was promised:
“And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Heb. 11:39-40).
Today, I am reminded that waiting is about trusting the One who sees the big picture.
During this time of year, we are reminded of the anticipation, the waiting, the expectation of the coming Christ child. God’s timing was perfect.
We may not know the exact date that Jesus came, but we know that God was waiting and planning for the precise moment.
We may not know the exact date that our waiting season will end, but God’s timing is perfect. And even if things don’t turn out as we would like or expect (I mean, who sends the King of Kings to be born in a manger?!), we can trust that God is bigger than all circumstances and that any amount of waiting will be worth it.
Rooted in Faith and Love—a Source of Strength
The prayer at the end of Ephesians 3 has always been one of my favorites. The reminder of the depth, length, height, and depth of God’s love... that His power is at work with me... and that He is able to do beyond what I can ask or imagine. Wow!
These familiar verses fill me with hope, but the renewal of strength came when I took a longer minute to reflect on the way faith and love are an integral part of making it all possible. Christ dwells in my heart through faith—and that faith allows me to comprehend the vastness of His love. I can even know His love that surpasses knowledge. Mind blown. Re-read these verses with me from Ephesians 3:14-21. May you, too, be rooted, grounded, and established in that love, filled with faith that powerfully works in and through us.
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
