Mary was in a time of waiting as she waited for Jesus to be born. Could she have known the “full picture” of what it would mean for her to carry the Christ-child? She had to endure looks and speculations of others, perhaps including Joseph, but together they endured and embraced the “waiting room of life” and welcomed the Messiah in due time.
Have you ever found yourself in a time of “waiting?” Maybe it was for test results, or a health issue, or your loved ones’ diagnosis, or a job, or marriage, or….?
During that time of waiting, perhaps you prayed, perhaps even fasted, and still no answer from the Lord. I’d like to say that most people do, in fact, have a time or times of waiting. Last year about this time, we had no idea what the year would hold; but it held a lot of waiting and a lot of “white out” on our calendar as things got cancelled in order for us to go through this “time of waiting”. In January Joe had an emergency visit to the hospital to figure out what was going on. He was then sidelined for 5 months until he could have surgery to correct and remedy his issue. He was patient but he also dealt with a lot. One day he said something like, “I’m so discouraged, but I am also at peace.” THEN, as we planned a trip to celebrate our new-found freedom, I (Cindi) went to the ER for a severe re-injury to my back and wound up in ICU (critical care) for 5 days with totally unrelated and life-threatening issues. AGAIN, sidelined and more waiting.
Sometimes we don’t understand why we go through challenges and frustrating time of waiting. Sometimes I wonder if they are for our growth in the Lord? I know He sometimes needs us to see things differently and yet we might not really get the “full picture” like He sees it. Trying to appreciate what we went through also helps us appreciate what others are going through or will.
I know we can wind up waiting for so many different things:
- A job
- Marriage
- A child we’ve longed for
- A first home
- Tests to come back with good results
- Surgery
- A way-ward child to return to the Lord and come home
- ADD YOURS: ____________
Yet, some have waited short periods of time and others have waited for years for answers to prayer and being patient in that waiting. But it also made me/us consider those waiting for death in their hospice room. They might be waiting and anticipating the next steps in life to death that await them as they wait upon the Lord.
Oh, may we wait upon the Lord for the lessons we need to learn. May we do so with grace and even optimism so that others can see Christ in us. May we share our love for the Lord and what He is teaching us. May we take this season to cherish how Mary must have waited and anticipated. It’s in the waiting room of life that we might learn the most; but how we might teach the most to others by how we wait. Others are watching. May we be a good example.
Dr. Joe and Cindi Ferrini share their newest book: Love All-Ways: Embracing Marriage Together on the Special Needs Journey (order at www.cindiferrini.com). They are authors, speakers, and bloggers for several blogging sites on marriage, family and special needs. They spoke nationally for FamilyLife Weekend To Remember Marriage Get-a-Ways for 20 years, authored *Unexpected Journey – When Special Needs Change our Course, and have been interviewed on Focus on the Family, FamilyLife Today, Janet Parshall at “In the Market”, Chris Brooks of “Equipped” and various other radio and television venues. Connect with them at:
and via social media at:
www.facebook.com/cindi.ferrini
www.facebook.com/UnexpectedJourney/
www.facebook.com/MyMarriageMatters/
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