by Dawn Smiling 

This has been an awesome semester for me.  I have seen God move in my life, and in the lives of so many beautiful women.  This semester, God has shown me the beauty in waiting on Him.

I don’t do this intentionally, but I tend to be impatient.   I may be in the supermarket, or at a stop light in traffic.  I don’t seem to have time to wait.  Either the cashier is not moving fast enough in the supermarket, or the light has not turned green quick enough in traffic.  I just did not know how to savor the moments.

I decided not to take full responsibility for this. After all, we live in a microware society.  Facebook, Twitter, Internet, and texting has trained me to jump onto the computer world instantly to get results.  I don’t have to go the mall.  If I have a few days to wait for delivery, I can order online and pay for express shipping.  Why wait? 

This semester has opened my eyes to the fact that God is not a computer.  While living in the fast pace of life is not bad, I think I fell into seeking immediate fulfillment, and immediate results from God.  This also gives me lack of patience while waiting on God.

I learned there is a beauty in waiting on God, and the importance of hearing His voice.  I think impatience existed before computers.  Would Abraham have acted differently when God told him a son would be born?   Not from Hagar, but from his wife, Sarah?  Abraham could not reason within himself how this could possibly be done, which led him and Sarah to take matters into their own hands.  Well, this caused all kinds of problems in his household.  Yet in spite of their impatience, 14 years later, God kept his promise and Sarah conceived.  God knew Abraham and Sarah were going to be impatient, and He also knew He would keep His promise.

There is truly beauty in waiting on God to move through your circumstances.  God told Noah to build a boat and to wait for His instructions.  No matter how many times Pharaoh in Egypt said “no”, Moses persisted in the release of the Israelites, and waiting for God to do it.  And one day in the upper room in the book of Acts, the disciples patiently waited for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and they turned this world upside down with the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sometimes as women we tend to be impatient.  We want our children to behave and our husbands to cooperate.  We want our co-workers to fall in line, and our desires met immediately.  Yet, we can miss the most important things in our life.  By waiting on God in prayer, we get to experience the movement of God in and through us as He grants our request.    Praying and waiting for increase on our jobs and new business ventures.  Praying for our husband, children, and loved ones and believing that God will do the transforming.

I also learned to monitor my posture while I wait.  This means it is okay to pray at the stop light and read a scripture while waiting on line at the supermarket. That is such an excellent time to pull out that cell phone and look up a scripture and even take out time to enjoy the view and seeking opportunities to talk about the goodness of Jesus to others.

More importantly, there is beauty in waiting on God as we guide other women in our lives, as we exercise patience in prayer for our sisters, and lift them up in during their trials.  Waiting for God to move in their lives and see miracles comes forth as our sisters  grow and learn with us.

Sometimes we know that God is going to move, but we don’t know when God is going to move.  Sometimes we are unsure of what the outcome is going to be.  I have learned that God wants me to be confident in Him and His power by displaying trust in His perfect timing in my life and in the lives of those He places me in contact with.

God Bless You!

Dawn Smiling enjoys volunteering at Grace Family Church as a prayer counselor, part of the soul care ministry, and as a table leader for Beautiful Monday Nights.