waiting....

I waited patiently for the Lord. (Psalm 40:1)
Waiting is much more difficult than walking, for waiting requires patience. But God has a purpose in all of His delays. (Ps. 37:23) Next to this verse in the margin of his Bible, George Mueller made this note: "And the stops too." It is a vital principle of the Lord's guidance for a Christian to never move from the spot where he is sure God has placed him, until the "pillar of cloud" (Ex. 13:21) moves.
Waiting -- keeping yourself faithful to His leading -- this is the secret of strength. And anything that does not align with obedience to Him is a waste of time and energy. Watch and wait for His leading.
Must life be considered a failure for someone compelled to stand still, forced into inaction and required to watch the great, roaring tides of life from shore? No -- victory is then to be won by standing still and quietly waiting. Yet this is a thousand times harder to do than in the past, when you rushed headlong into the busyness of life. It requires much more courage to stand and wait and still not lose heart or lose hope, to submit to the will of God, to give up opportunities for work and leave honors to others, and to be quiet, confident and rejoicing while the busy multitude goes happily along their way.
The greatest life is "after you have done everything, to stand." (Eph. 6:13)
----Streams in the Desert

It seems that a major theme of our year has been waiting on the Lord. I wish I could say that I have waited patiently at all times! We heard the Lord say "leave, go, at once" and "I'll tell you the rest later". One of the hardest things we have ever done, ever, was do just that. Pack up, move half way around the world, again, not knowing what was next. Then, we waited, and waited, and waited, often not so patiently we waited. Gradually, over months rather than the days we had envisioned, the Lord began showing us what was next. After many details have come together and we have witnessed the Lord's hand provide in ridiculous ways, we are in our new home and we are seeing the Lord's hand moving. But even still, as we seek to find our place here after being away for four years, we are waiting. Not because we want to wait, but because the pillar of cloud hasn't moved yet. A couple of days ago, I read this: We live fascinating lives if we are living in the center of God's will. It made me smile because the last few years have certainly not been boring ones for us! Some may think we are some sort of spiritual giants, on this amazing pilgrimage with the Lord. Mostly, I think we, unbeknownst to us, have been enrolled in a special education of sorts, remedial might be a good word for it. Some can learn faith by reading about the faith of others or maybe by watching the example of others. Not us. The Lord knew we needed remedial, hands on, ridiculous-hold-on-tight-for-for-a-crazy-ride kind of learning. Nope, we couldn't learn things the easy way at all! But what a thrill to see so many God-sized tasks become reality as He is faithful to His promises. I love Bro. Dave's sermon on Sunday about faith and especially the part where obedience often involves something unprecedented...something to be done in a new way, perhaps never tried before. "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Gen.18:14) "Many times when He told me through His Word and prayer to believe Him for something very specific, over time the outlook on the matter dwindled from good to slim to utterly impossible before He brought it to pass. He wants to be absolutely sure that we know He's the One who fulfills divine promises." "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." (John 13:7) He is so faithful and worthy of our trust, even when we can't see what's ahead. He sees and knows. Praise you Father!