Love waits

My niece bought a cute ring with the words: “Love waits”; when I first saw it, immediately I thought about one kind of waiting, the physical one, but talking to Shelly, my special friend, I realized that love waits in more ways… actually in all ways!  No wonder God reminds us so many times in the Bible that “Love is patient and kind… love does not demand its own way.” (1 Corinthians 13:4; 5) This journey is all about the waiting, the suddenly we love so much and the waiting again for the next suddenly.  

Waiting is hard, we want things in our own timing and that is usually “right now!” but what if we spin around the negative view we have of waiting and see it as an expression of love?

Have you ever stopped to think how long God waits for us?  He doesn’t say …”well, I give two years and if you don’t get it, that’s too bad.”  “The Lord still waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion.  For the Lord is a faithful God.  Blessed are those who wait for him to help them.”  (Isaiah 30:18) This is a beautiful portrayal of waiting; God waits for us to come to Him and then He blesses us as we wait for Him to fix our mess. It may take some time, but we are being blessed while we wait.   The waiting is the growing period, the opportunity to really get to know God and to allow Him to strengthen our faith.  I guess we could say waiting is a gift, one that we come to appreciate later on, when we have matured a little more.

Do you remember the father in the prodigal son story? Do you remember what he did when he saw his son coming back? “While he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming.  Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.”  (Luke 15:20) His father never lost hope to see his son again.  He waited for him and his joy was overwhelming once he finally saw him.  We can’t even imagine the joy in heaven when a child returns to God.   

I heard Beth Moore say that if God has not taken you from the place you are in, even if you have repeatedly asked Him, maybe there is something to treasure where you are.  Look at the place you are in now… is God asking you to wait?  Look at the people around you… Is He giving you the opportunity to love them while you wait? Are you being a witness to them?

“Be glad for all God is planning for you.  Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful.” (Romans 12:12)

 God sees us; He knows what we are feeling and understands our frustration and hopelessness.  Keep asking Him to give you the joy you need to wait according to His will and to strengthen your faith so you can see what is not in front of you… yet.

Last week we celebrated our daughter’s fifteenth birthday with a surprise party.  She thought we were not going to do anything for her birthday and she saw no preparations being done, no shopping, no planning, no nothing, until the day came and it was surprise after wonderful surprise.  She then wrote in her Facebook wall “so today was just the BEST day ever. I'm so happy to have such amazing people in my life!! And the surprise was TOTALLY worth the wait :)”  The same way in God’s perfect time we will have our suddenly and we will be able to witness to all our friends how faithful our God is and with a big smile we will say … the wait was TOTALLY worth it!.

“Those who wait on the Lord will find new strength.  They will fly high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)