Have you ever been in the midst of a season where you are not hearing what you think you should be hearing from God? Sometimes He is even speaking to you about EVERY OTHER area of your life EXCEPT the one you are waiting on?

I would consider myself a spiritually mature Christian. I am not new to faith or God. Don’t get me wrong I still have a long way to go. I would consider myself to have a very close intimate relationship with God. We talk all the time. We even joke. God really does have a sense of humor I am convinced of that. He also has great timing. Yes, I said GREAT TIMING. Do not mistake that for our preferred timing…. I said He has PERFECT timing. When we are in the waiting season it is hard to remember that His timing truly is perfect.

The waiting season can be a lonely place some days. You can feel conflicted about decisions in other areas of your life because the devil is working overtime to convince you that you are not “important enough to God.” He can convince us that if we were, God would give us the answers we seek. The devil works hard to convince us that other areas of our life should not be in alignment with Gods word because if God isn’t speaking to us about this area, why would He have spoken into that one? He creates doubt and confusion. He uses our innermost thoughts and feelings, those ones we often do not share with anyone else, to sew seeds of loneliness and discontentment in our vulnerable areas. He convinces us that we should have it all together and not be struggling through this.

You know what he doesn’t do though? He does not remind us of all the times where God has been faithful. He does not remind us to go back to our first love. He does not remind us of those dark moments where God came in and saved us out of depression and anxiety or loneliness. He does not remind us of the times that we made decisions that placed us in bad circumstances and God provided people, doctors, finances, or any other type of provision in order to get us out. He never reminds us of the good good father that Jesus has been to us. He does not remind us that God has never left us or forsaken us. He does not remind us that God is sovereign and all powerful and almighty. He never reminds us that God is love, or that God hurts when we hurt. He never pushes us to lay it all down and just worship our father. He does not remind us of those things because He wants us to stay entangled in confusion and doubt. The more we focus on that the less we focus on God. The more we focus on us the less we focus on others. The more inward we become the less outward we can impact.

He clouds our minds with insecurity, doubt and loneliness. He convinces us to be isolated and alone in our own thoughts so that he can deceive us into thinking, “why would anyone care about what I am going through?” No matter how small the issue, and trust me small things can turn into big things if we are left to our own thoughts and emotions. He convinces us that we do not have the power to overcome this waiting and that we are not good enough for God to speak to us.

He is right on one point – we do not have the strength or power to overcome these thoughts, feelings or emotions ON OUR OWN, BUT we do have all authority and all power in Jesus name to declare that devil a liar! We do have all the authority to worship God even in our pain. We do have all power in Jesus name to make the enemy bow to our Lord and savior. We do have all power to admit when we are in pain and allow others to encourage us in that season. When we stay silent we lose the power. When we retreat we lose the chance to move past the loneliness.

If you are struggling with “the waiting” tonight I encourage you to pray and ask God for divine appointments with friends and mentors to be able to be honest and true about what you are feeling and all that you are going through. I know if you ask He will bring people along in your waiting season who can prove that God is for you and not against you. I know that He will use people and circumstances to show you He is there with you. He will use the tangible to prove the intangible. I know He will soften your heart to hear His voice. Time and time again He has taught me things in the waiting seasons that I would have never learned about myself without the waiting.

I challenge you today to really search yourself and seek His heart for what He wants you to learn in this season of waiting. To be honest my seasons of waiting have required the most growth but they produced the best fruit. Its not always easy in the waiting, but its always worth it. I can truly say I have found joy in the waiting. I have found peace in the waiting. I have even found freedom in the waiting. I know that my God is for me and that He is preparing me for greater things. He is molding more of my story and convincing me daily that joy can be found each morning. I know He is doing this for you to. Seek joy in the waiting. Trust that His timing is perfect and He will reveal it to you when it is just the right time for you.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Romans 8:18