Tag: Patience

I’m delighted to share the foreword for my new book Waiting on God Well. I pray it will encourage you. There’s so much packed into this short book. I hope you’ll grab your copy today. I pray that you will be blessed as you wait for God to fulfill His promises in your life. 

Foreword

Maybe it’s because I’m a native New Yorker. Or perhaps it’s because of the generation I was born in. It could be because I’m a dreamer who enjoys setting goals and a doer who delights in achieving those goals. Whatever the reason is, when it comes to certain areas of my life, one of the worst four-letter words that I hear is simply, “Wait.”

It’s just not an easy concept for me to swallow.

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m generally not an impatient person who has to be first at everything. I don’t go driving around with road rage or elbowing people out of my way on the train. Again, as a city girl, I’m all too familiar with having to stand in long lines or sit in traffic. I don’t mean that kind of waiting.

I’m talking about when you have hopes and dreams, desires and promises that you’re waiting on God to fulfill. I’m referring to the types of longings that you can’t make happen on your own. Those are the biggies in life.

At one point or another in our lives, we all have to struggle with waiting on God. Maybe you’re there right now.

What are You Waiting for?
Are you waiting to land that dream job or to meet your spouse? Praying for an unsaved loved one to receive Jesus? Believing for a healing or a miracle to be manifested? Hoping
your significant other will have a change of heart? Wondering when a door will open for a new ministry opportunity? Trusting to have a child? Perhaps all of the above?

I’m finally coming out of a long season where everything in my life seemed stagnant. Not just for days or weeks, but for years! Sure, I saw blessings here and there; but, oh, how I felt like my life was at a standstill. I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone had pressed pause on my life story. It was as if I were forgotten on the backside of the desert tending sheep like David or Moses.

Ever been there?

In the midst of this dry season, I would spend hours dreaming and scheming about my next moves and talking the ears off of trusted friends and loved ones. Surely, God didn’t want me to just sit around and do nothing! Clearly, I had to act quickly. Certainly, I needed to devise a plan of action! Not so.

It was around that time that I was getting desperate enough to make some sort of move. I went to visit a well-known church in my area.

The pastor stunned me as he said from the pulpit that he felt the Lord didn’t want him to preach the same sermon that he had shared in the earlier service. He proceeded to share a brief message about how King Saul grew impatient and took matters into his own hands while waiting for the prophet Samuel to return to the city of Gilgal to make the required offerings (1 Samuel 13: 6-14). He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel, but Samuel didn’t come, and Saul’s army started to scatter out of fear. So Saul broke God’s commandment and offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived and rebuked him. As a result, God rejected Saul as king.

The pastor asked the congregation if we wanted to know what God wanted us to do. I leaned in real close to make sure I didn’t miss this divine message. The pastor stated, “Wait!”

I sat there dumbfounded. God could not have spoken more clearly to me that day. The pastor gave an altar call, and I sheepishly made my way to the front of the church with the others. He prayed that God would give us the “faith that waits.” What a concept! I’m more used to having the faith to go. Asking God for the faith to wait was so foreign to me.

But there I was at the altar surrounded by a sea of people in a similar valley. Over and over again, the choir softly sang the words, “Trust Me. Trust Me.”

I left service that day with peace. I was reminded that God was in control. But now what? What does waiting on God really mean? What was a go-getter like me supposed to do during this nebulous time of waiting?

During this season, all I heard was that God had many wonderful plans for me. Exciting! But I had no idea how any of them would come about. The only words of comfort I heard God speak to me directly and through others were, “Believe,” and “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6).

If God had told me to jump on a plane and go back to visit the Amazon or Africa, at least that would have been some direction. But time and time again, all I heard was to, “W-A-I-T.”

What do You do as You Wait on God?
That question stumped me. I wondered if I were missing some gene. Why was it so hard to wait for further instructions? I read books and blogs and listened to sermons about why God asks us to wait. I prayed, asking God to reveal the answers to me. He did give me glimpses and encouragement along the way. In the end, there’s no getting around it. When God says wait, He means it. So it makes such a difference how we wait.

I’m writing this book not as some expert or scholar who has this whole waiting thing down. I’m writing as a fellow pilgrim who is also on a faith journey. I’ve learned many lessons along the way and would like to share some of them with you.

It’s during these wilderness seasons that we can have a complete meltdown and become bitter, angry or depressed. Perhaps even stop dreaming and turn our back on God.

Or we can press in.

That’s right. We can choose to run to God, lean on Him, trust Him, and purpose in our hearts to wait on God no matter how long it takes.

That is easier said than done though. If you’re reading this, then my guess is you’re also finding it a challenge to wait on God. My hope is that this book will help you and encourage you while you wait.

Waiting is not passive. It’s not for the weak, but for the strong. It takes strength and courage to wait for God to give you the green light. It’s not about having a blasé attitude.

Instead, it’s about expecting God to come through in His perfect timing and open doors that no man can shut. It’s taking God at His Word and believing that He will do exactly what He has promised to do!

My prayer is that you won’t despise the process you are going through, but that you will look for Jesus, even in the tight places, because He is right there with you. He is leading, guiding, and loving you. He has not forsaken you! He will bring you through.

And when you come out of whatever valley or barren place you are in, you will be stronger, wiser, and more secure in your relationship with Jesus. A blessing beyond measure! You will be able to look back and thank God for loving you enough to not take you the easy route, but the way that stretched you and tested you, brought healing to you and helped you to grow, and allowed you to see the miraculous hand of God in your life. I pray that you will come out a living, breathing testimony to the faithfulness of our God.

Remember that God really does work everything together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). That means everything may not be good right now, but just watch how God will use your experiences to make something beautiful. What the enemy means for evil God can turn for good (Genesis 50:20)!

In the end, drawing closer to Jesus is the best gift we could ever receive. It’s better than whatever it is we are waiting for.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

To order your copy of Waiting on God Well, click here.

Copyright © 2015 by Nancy Gavilanes
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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For more encouragement, read my new book Waiting on God Well: How to Prevent Breaking Down on Your Way to Your Breakthrough! To learn how I can come alongside of you as your Life Coach or to invite me to speak at your event, visit my website www.aboundingfaith.com. You can also find me on YouTube and Pinterest.

Scripture verses are taken from the King James Version Bible. Extracts from the Authorized Version of the Bible (The King James Bible), the rights in which are vested in the Crown, are reproduced by permission of the Crown’s Patentee, Cambridge University Press.