Wait!

Waiting.  Sometimes I’m so excited for what is to come the time
can’t pass by fast enough.  At others, what I am waiting for causes
feelings of anxiety or fear, and I’m somewhere between wishing the time would go quickly and hoping for the clock to stand still. 

Imagine what it was like for Mary when the angel Gabriel came to her with
the news that she had been chosen by God and would have a son. In that day,
being engaged (which was considered marriage) to one man and then being found to be pregnant by someone else resulted, at best, in a quiet divorce – at worst in death.  What would Joseph do upon hearing her story? It must have been incredibly difficult to wait for his response.  Meanwhile, anticipating the visit with her relative Elizabeth, who was also expecting a son, would have been exciting.

The wait that would have been filled with mixed emotion for Mary would have been for what was to come months later at the birth of the baby she was to call Jesus.  Would that day finally arrive?  … or maybe she would prefer a little more time before it did.  What would this child be like, and what would it mean to be the mother of the one who would be “great and be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32NIV)? Mary chose to accept the angel’s message with the assurance that “nothing is impossible with God (1:37).” 

This verse doesn’t mean everything will always go the way we want or that suddenly we’re on the path of ease.  It does mean that when we say “yes” to God’s call, we can be assured He is working and is with us. 

Have you sensed there is something God wants you to do? Maybe it is to reach out to someone with whom you are estranged.  Just waiting the few seconds for them to answer the phone may seem like forever.  Perhaps you’re going through a difficult season of grief.  It seems like life has stopped, yet simultaneously there is a sense that you are anticipating what may be next.  It could be you have been asked to accept a position in your company and you are considering the new, and hopefully better, opportunities this may afford.  Maybe you are being challenged to step out in faith and do what seems to be impossible.  Whatever God’s message is for you, say with Mary, “May it be to me as you have said” (1:38). Then in the moments, days, months, or seasons of waiting, know that God is with you and will give you all that you need to wait well.

Shelley 121919 © 2019 Shelley Ministries.  All Rights Reserved.