Refuel Your Wait. Laci Richter

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СКАЧАТЬ We wait for phone calls and emails. We wait for the healing of a loved one or ourselves. We wait for pain to pass and grief to resign. We wait for conventional happiness and expected joy. Because our lives surround waiting, it is important to decide how we will wait. We can choose to wait in fear or we can choose to wait with hope.

      When we use the wisdom of a bigger picture to guide our daily interactions and prayer, we choose to wait in courage. We can choose to spin in worry of details that are out of our control. Or we can choose to surrender our wait to the mercy of God’s promises. His Word and promises will fill us up and renew our strength and energy with exactly what we need. And when we find ourselves empty again, we will cry out for more strength, more peace, more of his fatherly love. If and when we seek more, he will provide what we need. Because God is our constant and because he is our endless supply of a merciful and gracious love. We can reach for his love and be refilled and refueled every day.

      I was called to write this devotion during a challenging season of waiting on my prayers to be answered. My husband and I desperately wanted to become parents and were struggling to do so. The Scriptures, personal stories, and journaling questions are a way to use God’s promises to lead you to faith in the waiting. My hope is that you use this devotion in any way that motivates and inspires you to wait with more hope and less fear.

      Part One

      Wait with Hope

      Chapter One

      What Are You Waiting For?

      “But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.”

      (Isaiah 40:31 NLT)

      Our lives are filled with waiting. At every moment we are waiting for a job, a phone call, an email, a relationship, medical results, healing. There are so many moments of waiting that we might expect to get better at waiting. Conceivably, we could become more patient while waiting. Or maybe we could become more productive during the wait.

      When my husband and I entered the adoption process, we traded in waiting for doctor appointments and refills of prescriptions for a different kind of waiting. We were now waiting for our home study to be complete, background checks to clear, and our profile to be shown. We were waiting to be matched with an expectant parent, for the baby to be born, for the revocation period to pass, and for a court date to finalize the adoption. So much waiting can be paralyzing for a person. In some of the earlier moments, I did nothing else but sit and wait. Once I realized that the Lord gives purpose to a wait, I was able to lean into him, to seek him, to need him, while I waited.

      When we wait on the Lord, he will continually renew our strength, supply our patience, and refuel our energy. Just when we think we can’t endure one more moment of waiting that is when we will find him. He will show up, pick us up, and push us forward. Because we are all waiting on something at any given moment, we cannot let wait paralyze us. Joyful moments exist within the wait, but we must be actively looking for them.

      Wait with Hope

      Big or small, list three things you are currently waiting for and how long you have been waiting for them.

      Which of these items has stalled your daily production or stolen your daily joy?

      What are some ways you can add joy to your wait? (reach out to a friend for support, join a prayer group or Bible study, go on a mini vacation, start a workout plan)

      Make a specific plan to intentionally add joy while waiting on these things.

      Chapter Two

      Change of Plans

      “You can make many plans but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.”

      (Proverbs 19:21)

      Most of us have a planned timeline for our lives. Those timelines do not include things like health issues, infertility, divorce, accidents, depression, or the loss of a loved one. But our lives include one, if not more than one, major trial. And our lives will not follow the timeline we imagine.

      I thought I would be married with children by thirty. My plan did not include a major breakup in my late twenties or a struggle with infertility in my thirties. But the bigger picture did include those trials and more. This path also led me to an amazing man to marry and two incredible children to parent.

      Every time I picked up a negative pregnancy test, I made a new plan. Every time we were matched with expectant parents, I made a new plan. Every time we experienced an interrupted adoption, I made a new plan. These plans were meant to bring me purpose and peace. But these plans brought much work and worry and stole much joy.

      You will find yourself making plans while waiting. A plan for every scenario possible. Too many plans. Too much worry. The purpose of your planning is to ease your mind and be prepared. But in reality the planning will cause you more stress than necessary. Release the unnecessary planning and surrender to God because his purpose will prevail in every single detail.

      Wait with Hope

      How is your life different than you planned?

      List specific occurrences that you are sure are the Lord’s purpose.

      Which parts of your life are you still wondering about when it comes to purpose and timing?

      Pray specifically to release the planning and control over these areas and hand them over to the Lord’s purpose.

      Chapter Three

      Seasons of Sorrow

      “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

      (John 16:33)

      I experienced a happy, simple, and peaceful childhood void of many trials or tragedies. My parents were happily married as far as I knew and still are. My relationship with my siblings is built on love and acceptance. There were no major health issues or shocking accidents. We lost my grandfather when he was in his fifties, but as a young child I thought this was normal. In my teen and young adult years, I faced some losses, the deaths of a couple of friends, and made a few bad decisions but nothing that altered my path.

      In my late twenties I met my husband and after a brief romance we moved to California to explore life, further our careers, and become husband and wife. I was oblivious to the fact that my previous journey was relatively stress-free until my husband and I decided to start our family. The next few years were filled with many hard decisions, multiple trials, and some unexpected grief. After a decade of trying to conceive and trying to adopt, we have now moved on from what I call the “waiting season.” We are now in the “parenting small children and maintaining a healthy marriage” season (my next book perhaps). We have definitely made it through a hard season, but I cannot expect that life will be untroubled.

      We are never guaranteed an easy path. We are actually warned that there will be many trials and sorrows. But if we can arm ourselves with the truth that Jesus has overcome the world, we are assured that we can overcome multiple trials and deep sorrow with our Heavenly Father’s peace.

      Wait СКАЧАТЬ