Waiting with Wonder

What do you feel like you are waiting for right now? A friend of mine asked me this question earlier this morning and it took me hours to respond. There are many things I am waiting for answered prayers about: things like spiritual redemption in my family and job decisions for the future and finances to expand our house and timing for when to have another baby. But, I think what shocked me the most? Is that for the first time I'm not in a season of waiting. Oh, I am waiting... for sure. But I'm not in the season of waiting for a husband or a kid or a new job or a pay raise. I honestly feel like I am–possibly, for the first time in my life-- not waiting for something out there to fulfill me. The funny thing about contentment is that you usually don't realize when you've reached it. This is why it shocked me so much when I realized that overall, I wasn't waiting for anything. Not really. If you had asked me five years ago, I would have told you a definite answer without batting an eyelash. I can't wait until I get married. Four years ago: I can't wait to settle into a house of our own. Three years ago: I'm can't wait to go up north and see my family! Two years ago: I can't wait for a kitchen reno! Last year: I'm waiting until after Christmas to have this baby. And then, after that, it only seems to get worse. I can't wait until she sleeps through the night. I can't wait until winter is over so I can leave this house. I can't wait to go back to work. I can't wait until I get off work and go home. I can't wait until these kids grow up and leave the house. I can't wait until I retire. And then after that? I wish I were young again. I wish my kids were babies again. What I would give to be able to go to work! It seems that we never want to be in the season we're in.... until it's over. Now don't get me wrong... I am no saint. There have been many tears shed asking the Lord why I'm STILL asking for this request and that healing and those salvations. Why I can't master housework or parenting and why my husband hasn't changed those habits I hate overnight. As Christians, God commands us to wait! Not the least of which is for heaven. I literally can't wait to get there, can you? Titus 2:13 says, "Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ..." Psalm 27:4 says this: Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD. He knows waiting is hard. He waited 33 years for His death. He has waited for decades for His people to repent and return to Him. He has waited to redeem us. He has waited for centuries to bring His bride home. I've always struggled with waiting. But today I realized that I was no longer allowing my identity and joy to hinge on another person or event. All of a sudden, I realized that I was broken and the world was broken and this life was broken but that I AM OKAY WITH THIS. And I was no longer waiting for one, two, or three significant things to determine my level of contentment. I was no longer looking to the next thing to determine my hope, my amount of excitement, or my future. I was living in the now, surrounded by baby toys and a full sink of pots and a cluttered desk, realizing that this life I've been given is wonderful. Baby toys means a baby to love, and a sinkful of dirty dishes means food on the table and people I love to eat it with, and a cluttered desk means I have the opportunity to work from home and provide for my family. (Disclaimer: this does NOT mean that I wouldn't hire a nanny in a heartbeat.) I suppose we will never stop waiting for things that we call exciting and wonderful and the desires of our hearts. We will never stop hoping for things to be better, for things to change, for things to look up. But the beauty is that in the wait, we can look up and see Jesus. And He is better than anything we have or will ever want. Wait for Him, sisters. Wait for His timing above your own. Don't be so consumed with what you're waiting for in the future that you forget to thank Him for your present. And in the wait, watch with wonder at what God has wrought. Cara Cobble Trantham is a freelance writer whose passion is to encourage women of all ages to draw closer to the Lord. She lives in Greeneville, Tennessee, with her husband and one-year-old daughter. She loves to send cards in magazine envelopes, counsel ladies over sugar and cream (with a little bit of coffee), and read a good book at the beach. Her bucket list includes eating pizza in Chicago, staying at a bed and breakfast in Savannah, and following a recipe without leaving out an ingredient.