Core scripture: “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:13-14)

Message: Waiting is difficult this time of year.  For ALL of us!  We wait in lines.  Bumper to bumper traffic.  We wait for that last test to be graded.  Students wait for the final bell to announce Christmas Break. (And let’s face it—so do we.) We wait for family to arrive from out of town.  For gifts.  For life to slow down a bit.  Crazy how it never does.

Me?  I am playing the waiting game too.  Kissing my wife goodbye this morning, she read my sigh like a book.  “It has only been a week.  Just give it time,” she whispered.  To be completely transparent with you all, I am feeling a bit off recently.  The winter doldrums have swooped in on me, and my medication has not yet kicked in.  To be here writing at all is a chore for me.  Yet I felt God nudge me to get to school early to at least try to blog.  It is not easy.

The waiting I am doing now, however, does not even hold a flame to the waiting of the world 2000 years ago.  Waiting on a Savior.  The world had been told of this child through the prophets for hundreds of years.  And He finally arrived in Bethlehem to a humble carpenter and his teenage wife.  He came to save us from our sins.  That legacy, that power is as alive today as ever before.

It is through Jesus Christ that we learn to be patient in waiting.  It is only through Him that I can pick myself up out of bed and know that His power will pull me through the day.  I cannot do this on my own.  None of us can.  So, I ask you … what are you waiting on?  Be patient.  Wait for God’s timing.  His promises told through Isaiah 40:31 remind us, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Let that strength carry you through the remainder of the school year and the holiday season.  Trust in God’s timing.  He will get me through, and He will get you through as well.

Challenge: I wonder if any of you are waiting on something like me.  Let this be a week where we can connect and share our prayers with one another.  Feel free to reply below with a prayer request or praise about something you have been waiting on.

Prayer: Father, I pray for patience as we wait on Your timing.  Quiet our hearts to trust wholly and completely in You.  Amen.

(A quick note to my followers … I will be taking a few weeks off of my weekly blog over the holidays to write the drams script for our church’s VBS, but I will return to my weekly posts in January.  I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and great start to 2019.)