The Work of Waiting

People have asked me lately, “What are you working on right now?” And this: “What has Covid taught you?” 

Those are both hard questions to answer because mostly I’m working on waiting. You would think that what Covid has taught me is patience, but I’m not even sure that’s right. I’m not that patient. I’m not that good at waiting. But right now, I don’t have much of a choice.

I wait because I can’t do anything else.

I started a boutique travel business at the end of 2019 called Walkabout. Who would have known that just a few months after I announced my first small group women’s trip to London, all travel would stop? Who could have predicted that I’d have to move that first trip back an entire year and that the second trip I had planned to France also had to be postponed a full year?

Today, I wonder, honestly, when we will ever be able to travel again.

The most frustrating part is that I thought I had an idea that was given to me by the Lord. I thought he was directing my path into a new season of life. I was excited about it. I could see how my gifts and passions—writing, teaching, and travel—were coming together to help women grow in their faith.

So why would the Lord give me a vision at that time only to pull the rug out from under me? And how do I persevere in faith, not understanding and not knowing when I’ll be able to move on the vision God has given me? 

As I ponder all these questions, I think about the folks in the book of Acts—those followers of Jesus who had just found their stride, who had decided to follow him with all their hearts, who felt like they knew the way they should go. And then, suddenly, he was gone. 

There they sat, in the upper room, scratching their heads, trying to figure out what to do next.

Waiting.

When suddenly, something amazing happens: the Holy Spirit arrives. Jesus had promised a helper, had told them clearly that the Holy Spirit would come, and yet it still felt like a surprise. A good surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. 

And then Peter, dear, headstrong, not-good-at-waiting Peter, stands up and addresses the bewildered believers, multitudes who had gathered together, asking each other, “What does this mean?”

Peter goes straight to scripture, quoting the prophets who had told them centuries earlier that Christ would come and would be crucified. He reminds them that God said, “I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below.”

Peter then quotes David who said, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.”

Peter uses words like “confidence” and “know for certain” and “we are all witnesses.”

Does this sound like a man who is confused about the times? Does Peter seem directionless? Absolutely not!

This same Peter goes on to write two books of the Bible where he addresses the trials that we encounter here on earth. He says,

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:6-7

Friends, we are all facing trials of various kinds these days. Illness. Depression. Kids at home—all. the. time. Unexpected job loss. Discouragement. Waiting.

I could go on. Your trial isn’t the same as mine (I don’t know of any other person who started a boutique travel company on the cusp of Covid, but if you do, please introduce us!), but your trial is just as important.

What does Peter say we are to do with our trials? Rejoice! Because God is using our trials right now to purify our faith, just as gold is purified when it goes through fire. These trials are making us stronger, more resilient, ready for whatever comes next.

And what will be the result when we’ve gone through all of this? Not our own glorification. Not even necessarily what we want to see happen. But praise, glory, and honor when Jesus is revealed in and through us.

Yes, our trials teach us many things, but their ultimate purpose is the glory of Christ.

So we press on. Not to get what we want, but to bring glory to God.

We teach our kids to the glory of God.

We rest to the glory of God.

We pursue peace to the glory of God.

We persevere to the glory of God.

We wait to the glory of God.

“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:13-14