Lessons in Waiting
I have to believe that the primary test that exposes our impatience, lack of resolve and mistrust (or vice versa) in a good and loving heavenly Father, is waiting. We are faced with choices when we are made to wait. We can resist it or we can rest in it. One reveals a capacity for trust and the other, well… mistrust.
In these months of job searching, interviews and rejection emails (top 5 of at least 10 opportunities), I have experienced the full gamut of emotions from deep sadness, anger and depression to the mountaintop of faith, hope and expectation. The weird thing is that can happen in the course of an hour.
Add to this the never ending list of people who keep saying, “You’re breakthrough is just around the corner! God must have bigger and better things in store for you!” Okay… I’m trying to hang on to that. I’m trying to not lose heart. I’m trying to not be angry at the people and circumstances responsible for our “transition” to this point in life. I do really well with this most days. Other days… not so well. It’s a break-out-the-brownie-mix kind of moment (I like to live on the wild side).
I read the following piece on waiting by Elisabeth Elliot and wanted to share it. It is brilliant and echoes my heart in this crazy season… which, by the way, I believe is going to end very well and as many of my friends have said, “soon.”
“The tests of our willingness to wait patiently for the Lord come almost daily for most of us. Waiting requires patience — a willingness calmly to accept what we have or have not, where we are or where we wish we were, whomever we live or work with. To want what we don’t have is impatience and mistrust of God. A spirit of resistance cannot wait on God. It is this spirit which is the reason for some of our greatest sufferings. It is here and now that we must win our victories or suffer defeats. Spiritual victories are won in the quiet acceptance of ordinary events, which are Gods ‘bright servants’ standing all around it. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands. Can I not then wait patiently? He will show me the way.” – Elisabeth Elliot
Jimmy Pruitt is a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. As an idealist, his words are filtered through his spirituality with the expectation that he will encourage and inspire people to “Live Up in a Down World.” He is committed to being an authentic person in all he does. Because everyone has been through something, or is currently struggling, Jimmy believes the proper response to life is humility; it is the signature of Jesus bringing forth both pain and glory. He and his way better half, Annette, have been married for30 years. Agreeing their family is amazing, placing “Fun” in dys-Fun-ctional. They have three adult children and seven grandchildren that bless their lives beyond what they could ever dream. He is currently Lead Pastor at Bridge Church Fredericksburg, TX, and has started a new podcast titled: “Living Up in a Down Word – Making Faith real for the rest of us.”
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