How to Hope in God When He Makes You Wait
The world is turning green from the bottom up. I’ve always been captivated by this change. I can’t help but wonder if this life rising from darkness is meant to teach us how to have hope in God while we wait.
Something powerful happens in hidden places.
The daffodils and skunk cabbage climb out of some hidden place deep beneath the surface. The forest floor is alive and green long before the tallest maples burst into color.
Every time it happens, I’m drawn in, as if for the first time.
Maybe it’s because this change is reminiscent of my own journey.
Change happens in hidden places, quiet places, and unseen places. A gentle wave of conviction changes a heart before the renewed behavior is on display for the world. A quiet whisper about love is spoken in the broken places before that same love pours out and overflows.
How to Have Hope in God While You Wait
These truths are important to remember as we wait for our dreams to come to fruition. They’re important to hold onto as we sit with prayers that seem to go unanswered.
God does some of his most transformational work in unseen places. Perhaps you need the reminder that God is working while you wait for him to answer your prayers. Here are three ways to have hope in God when you’re weary from waiting on him.
1. Remember that God is working in the lives of your loved ones, even when you cannot see it.
Have you been praying for God to work in the life of a loved one?
Perhaps you’re discouraged because you don’t see signs of his movement.
Don’t lose heart.
Whether it’s a family member, friend, or younger believer, keep watering the seeds. Hidden work takes place beneath the surface. Even when it looks like nothing is happening, God’s hand is at work in unseen places.
I’ve been mentoring younger women for many years. I cannot count the number of times young women have approached me after years of mentorship and told me the way my words impacted them years earlier.
This always takes me by surprise; however, I’ve learned that God wastes nothing. Keep planting good seeds. They will bear fruit when the time is right.
2. Hold onto hope as you wait for your dream to come to life.
I often wonder how King David felt while he waited to take the throne as king.
David spent years running from his enemies long before the dream that was planted in his life came to fruition. He was told he would be king, and yet he spent years living in caves and hiding in the wilderness.
If you’re still waiting for the dream to come to life, don’t lose heart. The years of waiting assure that our characters are fit to match our high callings. If our motives are wrong and our hearts are unprepared, our greatest dreams just might destroy us.
Don’t lose hope if your dream has not come to fruition. God is working, and if he has called you to step into this dream, nothing will stop his plan from coming to pass.
3. Don’t lose your hope in God when you feel stuck in life.
When the same old habits and strongholds won’t relent, it’s tempting to wonder whether God has abandoned us.
Don’t lose heart if you feel stuck in some area of your life. Keep pressing close to the Lord. He holds the power to set you free.
The words of Psalm 28:7 remind us that God is our helper: The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.
Even when we don’t feel it, the truth remains that the Lord is our strength and shield. He fights for us. He wants the best for us. We can trust him to bring to completion the work he has begun in our lives.
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In the aftermath of the most recent April snowstorm, I take the kids to the woods. We bend low and search the earth for signs of life, and there in the white, the lilies are rising from deep places.
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