2225 Waiting Without Wallowing

Sometimes God’s plan has us waiting. His timing is not our own timing. But know this, when it is God’s time, then it’s quick time! The very thing that was not happening in all the years before just starts happening!

I know something about waiting. On the other side of a 7 year wait I can tell you that wasn’t God’s punishment, that was God’s graciousness towards me. Working in me, growing me, changing me, making me more like the woman I would need to become in this next season of my life. There is a sweetness to walking in the change and breakthrough you waited so long for. But there can also be a sweetness in trusting God is working before you see the evidence.

I don’t know where you are on your journey – you’re either still waiting for it or you’re walking in it – or maybe it’s both – there’s some areas of your life that you’re smack dab in the middle of healing, you’re wallowing in the goodness you once dreamed of – and there’s other areas of your life that are in that messy construction faze where things seem to only get worse before they get better. Life can and DOES hold both at the same time.

It’s not all good all the time, but it’s not all bad either. Through it all, God is faithfully working. His eye is on you, Sis – he sees.

So what do you do here? Here while you’re still waiting for things to change – waiting for things to get better – waiting for breakthrough – waiting for healing – waiting for restoration … YOU LOOK FOR JESUS!

Yes, Jesus sees you and he’s moving toward your need. LOOK FOR HIM.

In our waiting, we can become so fixated on possible solutions and promised next steps that we overlook the fact that only Jesus can ultimately change this, restore this, redeem this, or make sense of this, my sister.

Yes, go to therapy. But your therapist is not your Savior. That’s Jesus.

Yes, get treatment. But ultimately, your hope is not in the treatment. Your hope is in Jesus.

Yes, talk to a professional. But your professional is not your source. Jesus is.

God can absolutely work through therapists, doctors, counselors, treatments, professionals, and countless other means. But don’t let the means become your source. Look for Jesus.

One of my favorite miracles of Jesus happened at the pool of Bathesda. This pool was a gathering place for the sick seeking healing. Several years ago I studied this miracle and it changed my life. Like for real, it changed me. It didn’t change my circumstances, but it changed my attitude in the wait and helped me look for Jesus. I believe it can do the same for you today.

Here’s how this miracle goes – One day, Jesus showed up at the this pool where all the sick were gathered, but the people there were so focused on the water that they didn’t recognize the One standing right in front of them.

John 5:2–9 says:

“Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people – blind, lame, or paralyzed – lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, ‘Would you like to get well?’

‘I can’t sir,’ the sick man said, ‘for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.’

Jesus told him, ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!’

Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking!”

Now THAT is a miracle. A 38 year miracle. My friends, that’s a long time to wait for a miracle.

The pool of Bethesda was associated with mercy and healing, and people had gathered there hoping for something to change. But this man had become hopeless because he believed the only way he could be healed was to get into the water first. He had no one to help him, and someone always seemed to get there ahead of him.

So he lay there. And nothing changed.

I love the picture this story gives us. This man had become so convinced that healing had to happen one particu