seeking joy

Here’s the prompt list I’m using in case anyone wants to join me in this challenge:

Last winter, I read a book called “Waiting Here for You: An Advent Journey of Hope”.This book is a daily devotion that starts on November 26th, and it ends on December 25th with the birth of Jesus. When I started this “advent journey”, I had been in a season of waiting for several months, and I often wondered if there was really any point in my waiting. Nothing had happened yet. I wondered if I misunderstood God and was wasting time and energy waiting around for something I didn’t fully understand.

From the first day of this devitonal, I was hooked. Everyday throughout this “journey” I was reminded of the faithfulness of God, and I was constantly humbled as I realized that nothing I have ever waited for in my life has ever been as important as the wait for the birth of Jesus. Regardless of that fact, God still cared about what I was waiting for and the journey I was on.

I am re-reading this devotional this year with my prayer group, and it really has me thinking about the way I see patience and waiting. I am still in the same waiting season I was in last year, and if I am being perfectly transparent, it has only gotten harder. The challenges have gotten bigger, there has been more darkness, and there has been pain that I have no words to describe. But no matter how much pain I am in, I still want to do my best to please The Lord and become who He wants me to be. The best way I know how to do that is to worship while waiting.

“Worship while waiting” has been my mantra through most of this waiting period. This is what I say to myself when my patience has worn much too thin and my attitude is anything but God-honoring. It shifts my focus back to God, and it keeps my attitude in check. But what do I really mean by worshipping while I wait? How do you even do that?

What I realized last night as I was tossing and turning and repeating this mantra to myself is that waiting, and I mean a genuine pusrsuit of patience, is worship. When we do what we are created to do, that is worship. God created us in His image, and if He is patient, then I need to be patient to. And when I am living out that aspect of God’s purpose in my life, I’m not worshipping while I’m waiting. I’m worshipping because I’m waiting.

When God makes a promise, He always follows through. Every time. No exceptions. Even though this waiting season has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever dealt with, I have learned to lean on The Lord and His word so much. There are countless examples in scripture of how God followed through and did what He promised to do, but this advent journey is my most favorite example. It is humbling and encouraging, and it is a great reminder that if God kept a promise to save all of humanity, He’ll keep a promise to me.